"Make My Life a Prayer to You"

"I have been crucified with CHRIST and it is no longer I who live but CHRIST who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the SON of GOD who loved me, and delivered HIMself up for me." Galatians 2:20

"Make My Life a Prayer to You" by Melody Green

Make my life a prayer to You

I wanna do what YOU want me to

No empty words and no white lies

No token prayers no compromise

I wanna shine the light You gave

Thru Your Son You sent to save us

From ourselves and our despair

It comforts me to know You're really there

Chorus

Well I wanna thank YOU now

For being patient with me

Oh it's so hard to see

When my eyes are on me

I guess I'll have to trust

And just believe what You say

Oh You're coming again

Coming to take me away

I wanna die and let You give

Your life to me so I might live

And share the hope You gave to me

The love that set me free

I wanna tell the world out there

You're not some fable or fairy tale

That I've made up inside my head

You're God the Son and You've risen from the dead

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

I'm having a hard time knowing where to start this week. It seems like a lifetime has passed since i last wrote you...and it sort of has. In the past couple of weeks, I have experienced the depths of despair with the relinquishing of our daughter going away to college, the sweet fellowship of dear old friends and making new ones, the sufficient grace that only GOD can give when you leave your baby at college 5 hours away, the peace to rejoin FBC Athens for the third time in our lives, the joy of seeing and hearing my dear former pastor who married us, preach in a country church revival in Pulaski, Tn, the relief of a great report on a stress test for my husband, enjoying a full moon on the front porch with my husband and the sweet blessings of rekindling our relationship in ways you can only do when you have an "empty nest," and the anguish and sorrow of sitting in a doctor's office with a dear friend when she was told it looks like she has a brain tumor that has spread from other parts of her body. We're celebrating my Mom's 80th birthday tomorrow, with my 48th right around the corner. So, i wasn't exaggerating when I said it seems like a lifetime since i last wrote you.



I will tell you this, your prayers for me and my family have been answered this week. Johnny and I, and John Mac have experienced GOD's grace through your love and kindness and the strength of the LORD. Hannah Beth loves college...just check out her latest status on FB...



Hannah Beth Evans late night work out with friends. I love college.


The neat thing is i love her college too, i just wish it wasn't so far away:). Hannah Beth is going to The University of Mobile, not to be confused with the University of South Alabama which is also in Mobile where my niece graduated from a couple of years ago. HB and i both declared she would never go to school in Mobile after attending my niece's graduation...we lived to eat those words. On the U of M's FB page it says, " The University of Mobile is a Christian university located in Mobile, Alabama, named in "America's Best Christian Colleges" and "America's 100 Best College Buys." http://www.umobile.edu/

Last Thursday evening after we arrived in Mobile to move Hannah Beth in the next day, we met our dear friends the Hembree's, and Hannah Beth's new roommates parents, the Hetrick's for supper at Outback. I'm sure i made a great first impression as i dashed by Carley's (HB's roommate) parent's as i met them to run inside the restaurant and escape the mosquito truck passing by. We had a wonderful time getting to know them better once we were inside with food in front of us. Carley and her parents are from Atmore, Al where her Dad is captain over the prison guards. Her brother is a prison guard and her Mother is the nurse for the prison. They were like us, having a hard time letting their little girl go off to college. The Hembree's met us there also...a special blessing from the LORD. GOD used our friendship with the Hembree's in a big way to get Hannah Beth to Mobile to college. I was so thankful Linda called us the morning we left to see if we could meet them for supper that evening...it made the trip down there a lot easier to know we'd be seeing special friends that evening. Linda Hembree graduated from the University of Mobile and her son Josh is a junior there, and her daughter Emilee is a freshman this year. Linda has returned this year to work on another degree in marriage and family counseling.



After a wonderful evening of fellowship, we moved HB in bright and early the next morning. We sure were thankful to have our niece, Corinne, go down with us to help move Hannah Beth in her dorm. She's the one hugging HB in the picture. Corinne was home on a short break from her studies at Indiana University and what a dear blessing she was to all of us. When we arrived at the dorm, there was a lot of hustle and bustle going on with girls moving in. We met the gal that was over HB's dorm and was so impressed with her...Megan Hunter. Immediately we had a group of students volunteer to help move in HB's stuff. Wow, that was impressive. It didn't take anytime at all to unload her car and ours when you have an army of students helping you.



With Carley's parent's working to move her in, and get her all set up, and Corinne and us helping HB, by lunchtime, the girls looked like they had been living there forever. Johnny made a Walmart run to get necessities for both girls. There room turned out real cozy...i think they got runner up in a contest for the rooms being decorated the best. We saw our former pastor, Br. David Jones in the parking lot helping his girls get moved in. Our kids were friends when they were little and now GOD has brought them back into our lives again. Two of his girls are attending the University of Mobile. Their oldest daughter just graduated from there.



After we got the girls moved in, we enjoyed a delicious lunch in the cafeteria. I guess it was delicious to me cause i was really hungry! It was neat seeing the parents and kids eating together. After lunch, there was a dorm meeting for the students and a parent meeting for us. I kind of got sleepy during the financial part of that meeting, i sure hope Johnny was listening:). The meeting really made me feel better about leaving her there as they shared their vision and desire to help our children grow closer to GOD, and mature them as adults and CHRISTians to be used for GOD to reach the world for CHRIST. The more i learn about the University of Mobile, the more i like it. I know it's not perfect, for sinners live there, just as they do at my house. But i am thankful for the vision and the passion of it's leaders to train young people to love CHRIST and make HIM known to those around them.



As soon as the meeting was over, we met HB at the bookstore where we bought her books for the semester. She and Corinne already had the books together when we got there, so after picking out a couple of t shirts, i got one that says, "University of Mobile Mom" we were ready to check out.



We met HB back at her dorm room where it was time to say goodbye. Carley's parents had already left and they already had their tearful departure. HB cried a little, and i did. It was hard to walk away, but we no sooner had gotten in the car to leave ourselves when Carley and Hannah Beth were headed to her car to go somewhere...beginning their new adventure together.

Hannah Beth and Corinne

Emily Hembree, HB, Carley, Corinne

I'm so glad Corinne was with us...she made the ride home such a blessing...GOD's grace to us. GOD is doing a great work in my niece's life at the Indiana University where she is growing in CHRIST leaps and bounds. She is involved in the Navigator Ministry and really reaching out to Muslims, homosexuals, and sharing CHRIST and HIS love with them. We talked the first half of the trip, having a sweet time of conversing about the things of the LORD, and the second part we listened to Questions and Answer tapes by Dr. John MacArthur. You can download those free, and all of Dr. MacArthur's sermons at http://www.gty.com./ When we got home, that was the hard part. Coming home with no Hannah Beth. For me, the first night was the most difficult and i think for Johnny too. He didn't say much, i knew he was hurting just like me...and HB was having the time of her life in Mobile!

Thankfully, GOD's grace has once again proven to be so sufficient. HE has a busy week in store for us, and new adventures for the both of us. You all have been such a blessing to us both, emailing us, calling us, and praying for us to encourage us through this time. It's amazing how GOD began immediately putting a desire in my heart to not only pray for HB while she's away at school, and support her, but the other college students in our church, and those at the U of M. I mentioned this to our pastor's wife, and she said there was a ministry in place at our church for this. Last night i found myself sitting in a support group of Mom's whose kids had just left college! Wow...that was amazing. GOD gave me the desire to pray for the students and here i was in a group of Mom's who felt just like i did. They needed my prayers, as well as our kids...and i need there prayers and support. I was so blessed to glean from the experience of the Mom's there who knew exactly how i was feeling and whose kids have gone down the road a little before us. It's amazing how GOD directs your paths in ways you don't even dream of to bring us where HE is already working. I am so blessed.



Last week, before we took Hannah Beth, i thought i was going to die. Tuesday was a really bad day for me, and I cried buckets of tears. Everytime i tried to talk to HB i broke down crying. After that terribly difficult day, GOD had such a blessing in store for me the next day. HB and I spent almost the entire day together eating breakfast with my folks at Cracker Barrell, washing and vacuuming her car at the car wash, running last minute errands, spending time watching her favorite shows, and later meeting the rest of our family to eat together before she left for school. It was a very special gift from GOD to my heart after having such a terrible day the day before, and the weeks before as i dreaded her leaving so badly.



I read a devotion during that time from Elisabeth Elliot about being in a wilderness. I thought "YES," that is what this feels like...a wilderness experience.



Exodus 13:17-18



Wastelands






There are dry, fruitless, lonely places in each of our lives, where we seem to travel alone, sometimes feeling as though we must surely have lost the way. What am I doing here? How did this happen? Lord, get me out of this!


He does not get us out. Not when we ask for it, at any rate, because it was He all along who brought us to this place. He has been here before--it is no wilderness to Him, and He walks with us. There are things to be seen and learned in these apparent wastelands which cannot be seen and learned in the "city"--in places of comfort, convenience, and company.


God does not intend to make it no wasteland. He intends rather to keep us--to hold us with his strength, to sustain us with his sure words--in a place where there is nothing else we can count on.


"God did not guide them by the road towards the Philistines, although that was the shortest...God made them go round by way of the wilderness towards the Red Sea" (Ex 13:17,18 NEB).


Imagine what Israel and all of us who worship Israel's God would have missed if they had gone by the short route--the thrilling story of the deliverance from Egypt's chariots when the sea was rolled back. Let's not ask for shortcuts. Let's keep alert for the wonders our Guide will show us in the wilderness."





We all have "wastelands," in our lives, those times when we'd just rather skip, and it does seem like we have lost our way. That's where i feel like i have been walking for the past several weeks as i found myself "out of a job," since HB graduated, and we have been looking for the place GOD would have us worship and serve HIM for this next season of our lives. I was not expecting how difficult it would be to face HB going off to school and beginning the new life GOD had for her, while wondering what HE had for me. I have been in a wilderness, a "wasteland." Thankfully, I have not been alone. GOD has been there with me, all along, and HE has used so many of you to be be HIS loving arms and hands and feet to help me and our family through this difficult time.



The friend I mentioned above who didn't get a good report from the doctor is going through a most difficult "wasteland" time. I ask you to earnestly pray for her. Shirley's sister died of cancer two months ago, and Shirley is scared. You may remember Shirley is the mother of my friend Mishel, my friend from California whose husband went AWOL from their family a couple of years ago. Shirley fell out her backdoor steps and broke her hip last year. She got out of the nursing home CHRISTmas Eve, after spending several weeks in rehabilitation. This family has had their share of Wasteland/Wilderness Experiences the past few years, and GOD has been with them every step of the way. I ask you to please remember this dear family as they make decisions concerning Shirley's care in the upcoming days, and as they go through this time with their Mother and Grammie.



The LORD has packed in a lot of blessings, a lot of grace, a lot of sorrow, the past few weeks. One of HIS great blessings has been the reacquainting with the dear pastor's family who loved me and encouraged me so much as i began my journey as a new creation in CHRIST at 19. Br. Mike Dawson, who was the pastor at Central Baptist in Decatur when i came to know the LORD, and his daughter Melodye have been such a dear encouragement to me on FB in recent weeks. One night a few weeks ago, i saw a friend request in my email, and was thrilled to get back in touch with the Dawson family. GOD sent them to be a special blessing during my life in my early walk as a baby CHRISTian, and now during this time of my life. Br. Mike married Johnny and me 27 years ago. His dear wife Jolene played the piano at our wedding. Br. Mike's son, David, lit the candles in our wedding, and Carol his daughter served at my wedding. This family was very, very special to me as they wrapped their arms of love around me as I began a new life 28 years ago. After the LORD saved me at a youth revival at Central Baptist, i left for the University of Montevallo a few short months later. There at Montevallo, GOD surrounded me with more CHRISTians to help me grow me stronger in HIM and give me a vision for what HE wanted to do in and through my life..... to love CHRIST, share HIM with others, and help them grow in their relationship with JESUS. It is was a similar time to what my daughter is experiencing now. The Dawson family will always be very dear and special for the love of CHRIST they shared with me then, and now. I am so thankful for GOD bringing them back into this season of my life.



GOD recently reminded me of a prayer that we had sung at our wedding 27 years ago... a song that I first heard sang by a friend I met at the University of Montevallo. Mel sang it so beautifully at our wedding and wrote the words down on a piece of wood for a wedding gift. I wish i could find that gift. "Make My Life A Prayer to You," is a prayer that GOD has answered and continues to answer in our lives. It was written by Melody Green and sung by her deceased husband, Keith Green. Keith was a powerful CHRISTian singer in early eighties when Johnny and I were born again. He and two of his small children were killed in a plane crash when Keith was only 28 years old. GOD has used the powerful and intimate love songs that Keith and his wife wrote to JESUS to inspire and motive a generation of CHRISTians to be "bananas for JESUS!" I pray you will use this song as a prayer of surrender to our LORD JESUS as you listen:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd9MaBu3gAg&feature=related "Make My Life a Prayer to You"





During this "wasteland" time in my life, GOD has led me to recommit myself to HIM for this upcoming season in my life, and continue to "Make My Life a Prayer to HIM." I have had to relinquish my daughter, and the blessing of having her buzzing in and out each day, and trust HIM for what HE has in store for her during these important college years, to continue to shape and mold her for WHO HE has created her to be in HIM, and accomplish HIS plans and purposes for her life.



The prayer of Betty Scot Stam, missionary to China who was beheaded, wrote:

"I surrender all my plans, purposes, desires, hopes, myself, my life, my all to GOD to be HIS forever. I ask HIM to work out HIS whole will in my life at any cost."



Just as I prayed that as a young bride, eager to serve the LORD on the Foreign Mission Field, I pray it now, as an "empty nester," surrending my whole life to CHRIST, to be used for HIS honor and glory in whatever way HE sees fit, in life or in death, in this next season of my life.



You all are on this journey with me, and I pray that the LORD will lead you to "Make My Life a Prayer to YOU," and surrender all your plans and purposes, desires, hopes...your all to be GOD's and HIS forever. Even if we loose our life in this world, we shall gain it all in the next, when we lay down our lives for the LORD JESUS CHRIST:



"Then HE said to them all: "If anyone would come after ME, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow ME. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for ME will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or foreit his very self." Luke 9:23-25




I love you and thank ya'll for your prayers which have lifted and sustained us greatly. GOD has heard your cries for us, and lifted us out of the mirey pit of depression. Thank you! Thank you for your prayers for HB...she is loving college. This evening she is going to "Dinner on the Run" tonight as part of a tour of the churches around Mobile to help the students get acquainted with the different churches. Tomorrow she is planning on participating in "Project Serve," where the students go to different locations of the city and serve different needy groups. You can learn about the different campus activites by going to U of M's FB' page https://www.facebook.com/umcampuslife?ref=ts . Use this as a guide to help you pray for HB and the students at the University of Mobile and the staff there. Pray the LORD will do a mighty work in the teacher's, the staff, the students, and HE will manifest HIMself to them in such a powerful way through the classes, the worship services, the opportunities to serve and fellowship, in their speech, thoughts and all that goes on...that HE will be lifted up, glorified, and draw them to HIMself.

HE desires to draw each of us to HIM, and love us, and bear much fruit through our lives. I'm excited what GOD is going to do in our family through HB going to the U of M. I'm excited how GOD is seeking and reaching out to each one of us where HE has us to love HIM, and know HIS intimate love for each one of us through a personal relationship with HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. If you don't know HIM, surrender your heart and life today, and repent of your sins. HE wants to make your life a prayer to HIM and HE wants us to experience the fullness of HIS love for us. I love you all and thank you for being JESUS with loving arms, and caring hearts to us...to love us and care for us so very tenderly during this wilderness experience in our lives. You are HIS grace to us...and we thank GOD for you.



With all HIS love,

mitzi



"I wanna die and let You give Your life to me so I might live and share the hope YOU gave to me, the love that set me free."
           Melody Green, "Make My Life a Prayer to You."


"When they were young we talked with the children about the Lord. As they got older and left home, we talked with the Lord about the children."

-from Br. Mike Dawson, on the secret of raising a great family



"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your FATHER in heaven give good things to them that ask HIM?" Matthew 7:11





http://www.twelve23.org/- Pray for our country





































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"A Path Through Suffering"

'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your GOD. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.' Isaiah 41:10



Dear Praying Friends and Family,

When Hannah Beth was born 18 years ago, I was very sick. I went through a time of great physical suffering, as well as emotional and spiritual anguish. When she was two months old, Johnny resigned from the church he pastored near Prattville, Al in the midst of a firestorm with my body...i literally felt like I was on fire inside my body. Because of that, and other issues i was experiencing, we moved back home, close to our family to have help with John Mac who was 2 and Hannah Beth. That was tough for these two souls who a few years before had felt led of GOD to leave all and serve CHRIST on the foreign mission field. After a sudden announcement of Johnny's resignation as pastor of Indian Grave Baptist Church, he brought me and the babies home to Athens, to stay with our parents. He continued to serve for two more weeks, and he and the ladies of the church packed up all our belongings and moved us back to Athens.



During this very difficult and humbling and painful time, I remember reading through the book of Job for the first time in my life. I really, really began to to identify with him. While Johnny was still at Indian Grave finishing up at the church, and i was so very uncomfortable with searing pain all over my body, Hannah Beth developed what the doctors thought was an upper respiratory infection...except she didn't get better. She almost died from suffocation before the doctors were finally able to see a shadow on the umpteenth x-ray-she had a hemangioma growing across her windpipe. She was rushed to Children's Hospital in B'ham, and sedated for a week, while they gave her large doses of prednisone to try and shrink the growth. Prednisone is what I had taken a couple of months earlier for a severe allergic reaction to Macrodantin and had caused searing pain throughout my body. I continued to burn with pain in my back and throughout my limbs while she was in the hospital. I literally put one foot in front of the other. GOD strengthened me and Johnny and I were able to be with her, beside her hospital crib, during that time. After a week, we brought her home, our new home, a small but nice and i think new rental house my brother in law had just purchased...way out in the country...away from our family...and the help that i so desired. But GOD provided help through two little girls down the street who loved to come up and play with the kids, and it gave me a break, and a teenager who came came three evenings a week while Johnny was at work. I couldn't even hold Hannah Beth for any length of time because of my own pain.



I continued Hannah Beth on the Prednisone at home, as the doctor ordered, in hopes of continuing to shrink the growth. A few weeks later, she had to return to the hospital when her symptoms exacerbated, and they did emergency surgery to remove the growth. After another week at Children's Hospital in Birmingham, and staying in the Ronald McDonald House for our wedding anniversary..we were able to bring Hannah Beth home, with frequent trips to the hospital in Decatur to keep a check on her cortisol levels as we had to slowly ween her off the steroids. I was in so much pain, i couldn't hardly lift her baby carrier. My dear Daddy would go with me and take Hannah Beth in her carrier while Johnny was at work. I remember lying on the floor one night, my arms and legs and back not only hurting, but so agitated feeling. Johnny worked in the evenings and i was home alone that evening after the kids were in bed. I was reading a devotion from "Streams in the Desert," from Psalm 103 about being at "my wits end." GOD had certainly brought me to "my wits end," with my crippled health, us having to leave the ministry and i felt like a failure, with Hannah Beth's sickness and not knowing how the steroids were going to affect her long term... I was in so much discomfort that there were times when i thought it would be easier if the LORD took Hannah Beth. That's hard for a mother to admit that and I am ashamed to, and so glad the LORD didn't take my baby girl. HE knew the joy and life that she was going to bring not only to us, but to so many who know her. HE had a plan and purpose for her life, and what satan meant for evil, GOD meant for good, and HE had plans to fulfill through her.



While i was suffering so much during Hannah Beth's first year, the LORD brought a book into my life that brought me great comfort called "A Path Through Suffering," by Elisabeth Elliot. As i began to read through the pages of that book, I began to understand, the message of the Cross, more than i ever have...that JESUS had to die that we might have eternal life, and we are called to suffer and "die", that others may have life and to build things in our lives that only come through suffering...like humility. The things that we hold so dear, and that the LORD takes away, are the very things that HE transforms to bring joy to us and HIS life to others. This book isn't a "mamby pampy," syrupy type book that gives you sympathy. Bro. Mike Dawson, my dear pastor at Central Baptist Church when i got saved recently said this about Elisabeth Elliot: "She afflicts the comfortable while comforting the afflicted." That pretty much sums her writings up...straight to the heart. "A Path Through Suffering," deals with the toughest issues of life that we face when we try to understand the sufferings that CHRIST brings into our lives. It is a book that tells you that we are to follow in CHRIST's footsteps:



"To this you were called, because CHRIST suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in HIS steps."

I Peter 2:21



I grew up going to church every Sunday, and heard about the Cross all my life. But it wasn't until I was really in the fire and had to give up my health, our calling, our desires, and i thought, our baby girl all at the same time, that I began to gain a greater understanding of the suffering that my LORD JESUS went through for me and for you on the Cross. I can remember laying on the floor at my Mom and Dad's when we first came home, laying flat on my stomach because it was so painful to move. I saw in my mind, a picture of JESUS on the Cross and the searing pain that HE suffered for you and me. JESUS brought comfort to me through HIS suffering and death on the Cross in a way that I had never experienced before, and I will never forget.



In "A Path Through Suffering," Elisabeth Elliot helped me to understand part of the message of the Cross, how it applies to our everyday sufferings...no matter how small or large. CHRIST takes our sufferings and transforms them into something glorious, as we offer them up to HIM, Elisabeth Elliot writes:



He wants to transform every form of human suffering into something glorious. HE can redeem it. HE can bring life out of death. Every event of our lives provides opportunity to learn the deepest lesson anyone can learn on earth, "My present life is not that of the old 'I' but the living CHRIST within me." (Gal. 2:20 Phillips). When our souls lie barren in a winter which seems hopeless and endless, GOD has not abandoned us. HIS work goes on. HE asks our acceptance of the painful process and our trust that HE will indeed give resurrection life.'


As CHRIST's sufferings on the Cross were transformed into glory and eternal life for us, so will our sufferings be through the Cross:

"HE has sent ME to bind up the brokenhearted...to comfort all who mourn...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair."


Isaiah 61:1-3


As CHRIST was called to suffer, we too, are all called to suffer, and take up our cross and follow HIM.



"If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me." Luke 9:23



In her book, Elisabeth Elliot describes how we all have all have a myriad of opportunities each day to deny ourselves, take up our cross and empty our lives for HIS sake and the sake of others:


"We are not often called to great sacrifice (Elisabeth Elliot has lost two husbands, she was only married less than two years when her first husband Jim was killed by the Auca Indians, the second, Add Leitch, died of cancer), but daily we are presented with the chance to make small ones-a chance to make someone cheerful, a chance to do some small thing to make someone comfortable or contented, a chance to lay down our petty preferences or cherished plans. This probably requires us to relinquish something-our own convenience or comfort, our own free evening, our warm fireside, or even our habitual shyness or reserve or pride."







For me, and my family, a great deal of our "cross" in our everyday life has been my health issues. Often our family's life has been to a great extent "directed," through my health issues. Just this week, we had our "family vacation." Some of you didn't realize we've been on vacation this week did you? We talked earlier in the summer about going to Washington, D.C. a trip we've never taken because of my health issues. It didn't go over too well when i found out the family thought it would be easier for them to go if i stayed home. I could have died to self, but i really wanted us to do something together before Hannah Beth went off to college... so the plans for Washington were once again, set aside. That's a small thing, but it is an indication of what our family has dealt with my inability to travel well due to my sensitivities to chemicals. There are some very real issues of dying to self on all of our parts when we travel together.



I really wanted to have a family vacation and tried every way in the world to come up with a way to spend a few days together. When our plans for going somewhere together for a few days didn't didn't work out, we decided to spend the day together, maybe go to Chattanooga. When those plans didn't come to fruition, the LORD gave us the evening together- we spent the evening at my in laws, cooking hot dogs and swimming at their pool. We had a really special time together as Hannah Beth fried hot dogs on the stove after Johnny and John Mac couldn't get the grill to fire up. We sat around the kitchen table with Pop and Baba, eating our hot dogs, cause it was too hot to eat outside. Then, we went outside and all 4 of us were in the pool together, playing keep away with the ball..while "Troy," our Maltipoo kept jumping in and swimming to us. It was a lot of fun just being together, and getting to spend time with Johnny's folks. "Baba" Johnny's Mom said, "I don't know why ya'll don't do this more often..." I thought me too...it was simple, but it was enough, just spending time together as a family. As I am reminded of the suffering that i went through when HB was a baby, i am quiet content to be able to spend an evening with my family without pain...



The LORD reminded me as i was wrestling with our "Family Vacation," plans of another one of the principles I learned from Elisabeth Elliot's book, "In acceptance lieth peace. When we offer up our sufferings to the LORD, whatever it is, HE takes those and transforms them into something glorious, even "family vacations," that get whittled down to an evening together in the pool. Elisabeth Elliot says that suffering is whatever we have that we don't want, and what we want but don't have. I wanted a "family vacation," and tried every way to achieve that in my own strength. When i finally gave up control, and accepted not my will but HIS, we had a really special time together. "In acceptance lieth peace." An orthodox prayer that Elisabeth Elliot uses regularly to help her "accept" is:



"Teach me to treat all that comes to me with peace of soul and with firm conviction that YOUR will governs all. In unforseen events let me not forget that all are sent by YOU."



....including "family vacations:)."





"The pathway to true joy is to relinquish control."

-Nancy Leigh DeMoss, www.reviveourhearts.com





Somehow, my sufferings have helped me to learn to gradually relinquish as I can't "control," things the way i used to think i could. Your kids growing up teach you that too...there is a gradual relinquishing of that "control," over their lives as we watch them grow and eventually "fly out of the nest," like Hannah Beth is going to do next week when we go down to Mobile and leave her there. Ya'll pray for us...it's not going to be easy on these parents who have been blessed with her life and laughter and compassion so very much, but we know this is the next step for her and for us.



"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains [just one grain; never becomes more but lives] by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest." John 12:24



Johnny and I have to "die" to our desires to be with her and let her go...so that our baby girl can go and be further equipped for the calling and plans and purposes that GOD has in her life. Since she was a baby she has had a way with people...even when she was about to suffocate, she had a big smile on her face and it just broke your heart to see her gasping for breaths and smiling. I know the LORD has plans for her and the loving personality HE has given her to continue to grow her in her relationship with JESUS CHRIST, and to further HIS kingdom through her life wherever HE leads her steps. Pray with us, that GOD will use Hannah Beth mightily to bring joy to CHRIST, and draw others to HIM. At this point she plans to major in nursing...pray that HE will use those studies to equip her for the healing and health HE wants to bring to others through her.



It's been a long time since I've read "A Path Through Suffering," completely through since Hannah Beth was a baby. I devoured every morsel of hope then that I could get from Elisabeth Elliot's teachings on death and life and the message of the Cross. GOD really used those teachings to encourage me through one of the darkest times of my life. Not long ago, the LORD led me to start reading "A Path Through Suffering," again. How it has ministered to my soul during this season of my life when we are "relinquishing" our baby girl, a different trial, but a trial indeed.



On Relinquishment Elisabeth Elliot writes:



Relinquishment is always a part of the process of maturing. When CHRISTian parents have done all that can be done to shape their children for GOD, the time comes when the hands must let go. The child, now a responsible adult, must be released. For any parent this is painful, even when the child is moving in the direction the parents prayed for. The child's continued development, and the spiritual health of the parents as well, depend on the willingness to accept this next stage of the cycle-hands off, ready to part without a struggle, giving up authority and control, entrusting that child to GOD."






When, on the other hand, the child has obviously rejected what the parents have taught, the severing is painful in the extreme. All has been done that could be done...the time comes to let go, as it came for the father of the prodigal when he turned his wayward son over to GOD. HE must have foreseen the direction he would take, but he prayed for him and waited every day for his return. GOD cared for that young man as the father could never have done, brought him to bankruptcy (another severe mercy), and returned him to his father, repentant and willing even to be a mere servant.


It is a merciful FATHER who strips us when we need to be stripped, as the tree needs to be stripped of its blossoms. HE is not finished with us yet, whatever the loss we suffer, for as we loose our hold on visible things, the invisible becomes more precious-where our treasure is there our hearts will be."



"For as we loose our hold on visible things, the invisible becomes more precious"...I can certainly say as i look back over these past 20 years of living with a "thorn in my flesh," my health, GOD has caused the invisible to become more precious to me. I have had to "relinquish," certain things that others my age continued to enjoy. These "sufferings," GOD has used to drive me to HIM and to HIS WORD, to seek HIS comfort and HIS presence when I had to "relinquish," my health, and our desire to serve the LORD on the foreign mission field. Once again, GOD is calling me to "relinquish." This time it is the baby girl HE has blessed us to live with for 18 years. As HE has always been faithful, HE will use our "loss," of Hannah Beth in our every day lives to cause the invisible to become more precious to us, as we seek our comfort in HIM.



‎"Measure thy life by loss and not by gain; not by the wine drunk but by the wine poured forth, for love's strength standeth in loves sacrifice, and he that suffereth most hath most to give." Ugo Bassi




You can purchase "A Path Through Suffering," by Elisabeth Elliot through her website at http://www.elisabethelliot.org./ By the way, we named Hannah Beth, after Elisabeth Elliot, and Hannah in the Bible. Hannah Elisabeth Evans...she's got a big name to live up to!



This week, i have been blessed to listen to several of Twila Paris songs on You Tube while i worked around the house or jumped on my mini trampoline. Tonight as i was typing, the LORD brought to my mind one of her songs I haven't heard this week. The HOLY SPIRIT brought some of the lyrics to my mind and it fits so well with what i'm trying to share with you this week. The phrase, "Freedom only comes when I let go..." really jumped out at me at this place where I am walking in this season of my life...and every season. I am understanding more and more the peace that comes when I let go, relinquish even our most precious possessions and surrender to HIS will. I couldn't find a video of Twila Paris singing it, but i've included the karoake version underneath the lyrics. "A Heart That Knows You," is on her CD, "A Heart That Knows," if you get a chance to listen to it...it is so powerful.

"A Heart That Knows You" by Twila Paris

Thought I knew so much

But I've got so much to learn.

Got so far to go, so much left to burn.

Thought I knew YOU well,

But I struggle in YOUR hands.

Here again YOU bring the truth before me.

Freedom only comes when I let go,

This I know.

Chorus:

And a heart that knows YOU

Is a heart that can wait,

Die to the dearest desire.

And a heart that knows you

Is a heart that can still celebrate,

Following love through the fire.

You would never lead where YOU had not been.

Every road I face, YOU go down again.

Time has come and gone since YOU walked into the flame.

Still there is the pain before the glory.

And it is YOUR will I must embrace.

Oh, for grace.

It may be for my sake,

Just to help me grow.

May be for your kingdom, LORD,

I don't need to know.

And a heart that knows YOU

Is a heart that can wait,

Die to the dearest desire.

And a heart that knows YOU

Is a heart that can still celebrate, (Celebrate)

Following LOVE through the fire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9QtE4oBnC8 "A Heart That Knows You."



I love you, dear friends and family. Ya'll have prayed us through a lot and I am counting on your prayers to help get Johnny and me and John Mac through this time. I know that John Mac sure is going to miss his little sister...they are very close. Please remember Hannah Beth in your prayers as she adjusts to her new life at the University of Mobile. We will be leaving her down there a week from today.



If you want to drop Hannah Beth a line and encourage her when she goes to Mobile, i know that she would appreciate it so very much, or you can email her at blackbelt777hannah@gmail.com or friend her on Facebook. Please pray for her as she adjusts to school, living in the dorm with a new roommate, cafeteria food, where GOD would have her invest her time, and all that good stuff that goes along with college life...Ya'll have been so good to her and to us showering her with your gifts, encouragement and prayers...our hearts are overflowing with gratefulness to GOD and to you for your love and generosity towards her. Thank you so much, dear family and friends.



"For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD, "plans for good and not for evil to give you a future and a hope. And you will seek ME and find ME when you search for ME with all of your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13





With all HIS love,

mitzi


"What is real joy, the joy which cannot be taken from us, but sorrow accepted and transformed. What is real peace, but struggle and strife, fear and anxiety overcome. What indeed is real love but self love overcome and transformed into a passion of self-giving."

"The Warrior is a Child"

"And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for MY strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of CHRIST may rest upon me." II Corinthians 12:9

"The Warrior is A Child" Twila Paris

Lately I've been winning battles left and right

But even winners can get wounded in the fight

People say that I'm amazing

Strong beyond my years

But they don't see inside of me

I'm hiding all the tears

(Chorus)

They don't know that I go running home when I fall down

They don't know who picks me up when no one is around

I drop my sword and cry for just a while

'Cause deep inside this armour

The warrior is a child

Unafraid because His armour is the best

But even soldiers need a quiet place to rest

People say that I'm amazing

Never face retreat

But they don't see the enemies

That lay me at His feet

         Chorus x2

I drop my sword and look up for His smile

Because deep inside this armour

Deep inside this armour

Deep inside this armour

The Warrior is a Child

Dearest Praying Friends and Family,



I kind of had a rough week at "the office," this past weekend. No, i haven't started working outside the home. My "thorn in the flesh," doesn't detox chemicals too well, and keeps me pretty close to home. I have learned to be thankful for my thorn most of the time... I like being home and being a homemaker. But last weekend i struggled in the "depths of my soul," and I wasn't thankful for my thorn or anything else. In fact, i was majorly discontent with my thorn, and all I could see was how it hindered me from doing the things i want to and having fun. That's a really mature attitude isn't it...but that's where i was walking. After having a fun time with my family with the Spearings at their lakehouse last Wednesday, i just had a hard time recovering to be honest. I guess the exhaust on the boat motor got me since i don't detox things too well, and i rode quiet a bit in the boat while we were there. I shared with you last week that i felt "slow," the next day, and the day after that, i got hit again at a neighbor's house with smoke and incense. Usually, my body can recover pretty well, after i sauna or sweat, but it was getting close to time for me to have an IV that helps me to detox chemicals. The IV also supplies much needed nutrients to my body that i don't seem to absorb too well through my gut.



I don't have it all figured out what happened to me last weekend...I just know that last Friday night, i was planning to go the Homecoming Weekend Service at FBC Athens and meet my dear friend Wanda and Greg there at the old fashioned wiener roast and hear our former pastor, Dr. Fred Lackey, and I didn't feel like going. I worked on my Friday email instead of going to church and finished it up, I was thankful to be able to do that. I know the LORD has to "hide," me for me to sit still and be able to share the things HE has been teaching me through the week. One of you were so kind to write me and thank me for taking time to sit down and write these emails. Well, just between you and me, the LORD gives me plenty of help to "sit still." If i had extra abounding energy i would be up and doing something else...i'm sure. I'm just not that disciplined to sit for hours and type at will. These emails are all HIM...and HE has put a desire in my heart to write them each week. I plan to share them with you until HE takes the desire and grace away to write them. The emails were "born" during a "dark night of my soul," about 5 years ago now, when i could barely think. Truly, HIS grace has been sufficient and HIS power is made perfect through my weakness. The Greek Word power is translated "dynamite," for this passage. Isn't that so neat...HE is "dynamite" in our weaknesses. I LOVE that...and so comforted knowing that.



Getting back to last weekend. Sat. i was very teary, and everything that everyone around me did was wrong. My son got the brunt of my wrath that day. I knew i was either needing an IV really badly or my hormones were crazy. I think now it was both. I felt depressed, hopeless, and with 2 weeks left before we go with HB to leave her at the University of Mobile this fall...i was just struggling with everything about my life it seemed. I wasn't a happy camper over the weekend.



I managed to go to the Saturday night service at First Baptist for the Homecoming Service. I was so blessed by our former pastor Dr. Aaron Johnson, who had come over from Acworth, Georgia, where he serves as pastor at Summit Baptist Church, to preach at First Baptist's Homecoming. Br. Aaron, 50, has suffered from colon cancer, and experienced many difficult health struggles and continues to. Just two days before the service he preached on Sat. night...he posted on FB he was suffering from a UTI and felt like he had the flu. This is the man who has to catherize himself each time he goes to the bathroom because a nerve was severed when they were doing a special colon procedure on him. How powerful GOD is through his weakness. Br. Aaron's sermons always go straight to my heart and he is truly an example of the LORD's grace being sufficient and GOD being so very strong in his weakness.



First Baptist Athens is celebrating 190 years, this year of being a church and a light in our community for our LORD JESUS CHRIST. My husband was brought up there, and when we got married, we attended there for three years, before the LORD led my husband to attend seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas. We later attended there in the late 90's til the mid 80's when Br. Aaron pastored there, and most recently have been visiting there again. What a dear loving church First Baptist is...they have loved us in our spiritual "highs" of being newlyweds, and being discipled there as new believers in CHRIST, Johnny was ordained to preach there and the church commissioned us and sent us off to seminary as we prepared to go to the foreign mission field. They were there for us in our spiritual "lows" when we returned several years later and I was very sick and so encouraged by the saints who have suffered there. I saw a living example of GOD being faithful and strong in their suffering and HIS grace being sufficient for them. They were there for us when I left for the Environmental Health Clinic in Dallas, Texas, on Easter Sunday in 1999, with hopes to be healed from a chronic illness that mystified the doctors around here. The elders prayed over me and anointed me with olive oil in the prayer room. Our Sunday School class brought meals to my young family while i was away for six and a half weeks, and when i went to the clinic each day for treatment, they were there for me through the multitude of cards they were faithful to write and send me. The lady who gave me my cards each day at the clinic commented "You sure are loved." Those cards decorated my room out there in Dallas, during those lonely and painful weeks. Little did i know, that i was allergic to the ink in the cards:). I found that out later, along with many other discoveries during those six weeks that i had developed Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and i was "sensitive" to most everything I was around me. It didn't matter i was allergic to the ink, what a blessing the love of First Baptist meant to me and my family as they expressed it to us in so many ways.

Last weekend was a weekend of Celebration in the LORD, and i found myself in the pit of despair for most of the weekend. We made it to church Sunday for another wonderful service. Afterwards, our friends Wanda and Greg wanted us to join them and other friends for lunch but i just didn't feel up to it. I really just wanted to go home and eat leftovers and go to bed, and that's what we did. I wouldn't have made the Sat. night service if it hadn't been for Wanda encouraging me to be there. At sixty something...Wanda can run circles around me and we hold each other up in prayer and love. Wanda is an answer to prayer and a dear desire of my heart several years ago when I wanted "more than a neighbor," when our old neighbors moved out of their house next door. When GOD moved her and her husband in a year and a half later ...HE did "exceeding abundantly beyond all i ask or thought," and gave me the dearest friend, neighbor, kayak partner, surrogate grandmother for my kids, confident, prayer partner a person could ask for. Though Greg and Wanda don't live next door anymore...our hearts remain as one and I thank the LORD for her and her dear husband Greg that the LORD has brought through cancer this past year. Thank ya'll so much for your prayers for them. Wanda and Greg just recently returned from a three week trip up to visit their new grand baby and daughter who almost died after giving birth to her...she is doing great now, both her and the baby. Thank you so much for your prayers for her. Greg and Wanda took a train and followed the Lewis and Clark trail out west to Yellowstone and other beautiful places. What a difference a year makes. This time last year, Greg was very sick in the hospital from dehydration and we all were concerned if he was going to make it through his treatments alive. GOD answered prayers...and Sunday, Wanda and Greg were inviting us out to eat after a full weekend at church and other events they had been involved in.



As we talked to Greg and Wanda at the Welcome Table...my eye caught my dear friend Betty Dean Newman and her husband both walking out the glass doors with their canes. Betty Dean and Julian are in their mid sixties...Julian has struggled with cancer for years, and is now struggling with complications from the treatment. He is facing surgery for an aneurysm on his aorta August 24. Please remember him and Betty Dean in your prayers. Betty Dean, Dr. Betty Dean Newman, who has her P.hD. , and is a "Teacher's Teacher," has suffered from MS for years and is one of the most joyful, vibrant, loving CHRISTians i know. She had a bad flare up this weekend and cried when her doctor told her she couldn't go and be a part of the choir for the services this weekend. Betty Dean prayed and took her pain medicine and was there for every service. She had to sit down part of the time, and every step was marked with pain for her...what a dear inspiration she is to me, and another example of "My grace is sufficient for you for MY power is made perfect in weakness." GOD's power is dynamite through her life, and Br. Aaron's and Wanda and Greg's....


"Those whose lives have had the deepest spiritual impact in the world are those who have suffered. In GOD's mysterious providence, the cross and the crown, suffering and glory, are linked."
                                                                                        Elisabeth Elliot, from Loneliness



Monday morning came, and I received my much needed IV. After finishing my IV, i did our weekly ironing, took a nap and we had a special time taking HB to Target to shop for her college dorm that evening. You know, it wasn't sad, after i had been in the pits all weekend. It was sweet to take our girl shopping, and i was impressed with her choices. I thought that was very humble of Hannah Beth not to mind us going with her. The only time she seemed to mind is when i started playing with "Buzz Lightyear," as we were walking by the toy department. I don't know why. We went to see "Toy Story 3" together a few weeks ago at the drive in theatre, and that was a real tear jerker. The boy in the movie grew up and went off to college and gave away all his toys , including "Woody" and "Buzz" and the whole gang. I don't recommend that movie when you're struggling with your child leaving for college.

I had to leave the store after a while, i don't think HB and Johnny minded too much after my episode with Buzz ... I don't do stores to well after 30 minutes or so due to the chemicals and was so glad Dad was along to keep shopping with her. I went and sat in the Yukon and after about 15 minutes or 20 minutes or so of me watching young families walk in and out Target and wishing our kids were still young, and I didn't have my thorn to wrestle with, my husband and HB came out to the car with a big basket of "necessities" for her college experience. After we shopped, we met John Mac, and some young friends, Sarah and Patrick Collins at Landry's Seafood. We were blessed with some free meal tickets we'd been given a couple of years ago and never used them. Turns out we didn't get our meals for exactly free, but we did get almost $10.00 on each plate so that was a huge blessing and we had a really good time laughing with Sarah and Patrick Collins and our kids. I didn't instantly feel better after my IV, and developed a bad headache that night. But gradually GOD used it to help pull me out of my pit of despair this weekend and feeling sorry for myself. I had a royal pity party and just really unexpectedly struggled over the weekend.

I know i have kind of rambled this week...and haven't written what i thought i was going to write. But as I listened to Twila Paris sing, "The Warrior is A Child" last Saturday, and last night as i was preparing to write this email...i felt led to share with you that this warrior sure does struggle sometimes. Last week i struggled big time, and i didn't even see it coming. Guess that's the way trials are...i know a few days isn't much, but it did remind me of what it's like to really feel depressed and really feel hopeless and not like many things about your life. You know my LORD never left me...and though i couldn't feel HIM, HE was there for me all the time, and I praise HIM for that. I praise HIM that HIS grace is sufficient and HIS power is so sufficient in my weakness.

"MY grace is sufficient for you, for MY power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will gladly boast of my weaknesses that the power of CHRIST may rest upon me." II Cor. 12:9,10


I'm so thankful that GOD chose to include that promise and that truth in HIS WORD. It has become my life verse, and I lean on it so very heavily. I do "wrestle," with this thorn in the flesh at times, that leaves me groveling in the dust, and takes me to the height of my FATHER's glory through my relationship with JESUS CHRIST. My heavenly FATHER loves me and you so much that HE gave HIS SON for us.



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



GOD knows the pain of being separated from HIS SON. HE knows what Johnny and I are going through facing the separation from Hannah Beth. HE sent HIS perfect SON from heaven to die on a wooden cross that we might have eternal life, and be "rescued from the dominion of darkness, into the kingdom of HIS marvelous light," for all who will trust in HIS death and resurrection and repent of their sins.



It is my thorn that has opened the windows of heaven to me, as I have seen HIM so much more dearly and nearly because of my thorn. HE has run to me in my weakness and provided my heart's desires through my weakness and built my faith so much as I have seen HIS power so strongly when i am weak.



When Johnny and I were young CHRISTians, GOD used the songs of Twila Paris to touch us and express our hearts in so many ways. We even got to see her in concert at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas when Johnny was in seminary and what a blessing that was. I've been going down memory lane some lately, and last Saturday as i shucked corn, and battered okra, and prepared our Saturday lunch, i listened to "The Warrior is A Child," and i felt that way very much...i felt kind of beat up and just wanted to run to my FATHER, not wanting to see anyone but curling up in bed and staying there. I wanted to share that powerful and honest song with you this week, along with, "Do I Trust You, LORD?," another one of her very honest songs that speaks to my heart where i am walking right now. I pray the LORD will use these songs to encourage and strengthen your heart, as HE has mine and HE continues to. HE longs for us to run to HIM when we fall down like i fell last week, and HE will pick us up. HE has picked me up over and over and over and continues to each and every time i fall down. Last week at the Spearings, no matter how many times i fell on the wakeboard, Brad just kept coming back to pick me up...he didn't leave me there to drown or struggle on my own, and neither does our heavenly FATHER who loves us so very much and fights against our enemy for us.

"When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the SPIRIT of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him and put him to flight-for HE will come like a rushing stream which the breath of the LORD drives." Isaiah 59:19



My friend, Tim Greene, http://www.evangelisttimgreene.com/ is an example that the LORD lifts up a standard, an ensign of war, a staff, flag, or banner, against the devil and fights for us. The enemy came in his life like a flood several years ago. The devil sought to destroy Tim and his family through deadly mold poisoning. All the "losses," Tim and his family faced through that time their home, livihood, health, could have destroyed them if the LORD JESUS had not fought for them. Many of you prayed so diligently for Tim and his family during those most difficult years. GOD has restored Tim, and healed him. GOD came against the enemy, lifted up a standard against him, and Tim will be preaching and singing this Sunday at Austinville Baptist Church in Decatur, Alabama...just right down the road from us. Pray for him and if you can attend the service at 10:30 a.m. and hear what GOD has done for Tim and his family to heal him and deliver him from the enemy.

"Because he has set his love upon ME,

therefore I will deliver him;

I will set him on high, because he has known MY name.

He shall call upon ME, and I will answer him.

I will be with him in trouble;

I will deliver him and honor him.

With long life I will satisfy him,

And show him MY salvation."

Psalm 91:14-16

I know there are some difficult days ahead as we face this new chapter in our lives of an "empty nest." We are sure going to miss our baby girl, and through tears of sorrow, we know that our heavenly FATHER has a good plan for her and a good plan for us. Ya'll pray for us, as we desire to trust HIM for this next step in our lives and ask ourselves..."Do I trust YOU, LORD?" We take Hannah Beth to Mobile on the 19th and we come home on the 20th, leaving her there. Thank you so much for your love and prayers for us...i love you and I thank GOD for you all for standing in the gap for us during this difficult time when "The Warrior is a Child."

With all HIS love,

mitzi



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pzu-jWpcdw&feature=related- "The Warrior is a Child/Do I Trust You

--

"Do I Trust You?" Twila Paris

Sometimes my little heart can't understand

What's in Your will, what's in Your plan.

So many times I'm tempted to ask You why,

But I can never forget it for long.

Lord, what You do could not be wrong.

So I believe You, even when I must cry.

Do I trust You, Lord?

Does the river flow?

Do I trust You, Lord?

Does the north wind blow?

You can see my heart,

You can read my mind,

And You got to know

That I would rather die

Than to lose my faith

In the One I love.

Do I trust You, Lord?

Do I trust You?

I know the answers, I've given them all.

But suddenly now, I feel so small.

Shaken down to the cavity in my soul.

I know the doctrine and theology,

But right now they don't mean much to me.

This time there's only one thing I've got to know.

Do I trust You, Lord?

Does the robin sing?

Do I trust You, Lord?

Does it rain in spring?

You can see my heart,

You can read my mind,

And You got to know

That I would rather die

Than to lose my faith

In the One I love.

Do I trust You, Lord?

Do I trust You?

I will trust You, Lord, when I don't know why.

I will trust You, Lord, till the day I die.

I will trust You, Lord, when I'm blind with pain!

You were God before, and You'll never change.

I will trust You.

I will trust You.

I will trust You, Lord.

                                                                      I will trust You.











Benjamin Franklin, Letter to George Whitefield (19 June 1764)

"That Being, who gave me existence, and through almost threescore years has been continually showering His favors upon me, whose very chastisements have been blessings to me ; can I doubt that He loves me? And, if He loves me, can I doubt that He will go on to take care of me, not only here but hereafter? This to some may seem presumption ; to me it appears the best grounded hope ; hope of the future built on experience of the past."

"He wanted weakness-who was so weak as I? HE promised that HIS grace, that wonderful, transforming grace into which I had just been lifted, would prove sufficient all the time." Hannah Hurnard, Hearing Heart, p.28



Quit you like men, be strong" (1 Cor. 16:13). Do not pray for easy lives! Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle. --Phillip Brooks