"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the LORD, nor faint when you are reproved by HIM; for those whom the LORD love HE disciplines, and HE scourges every son whom HE receives...All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." Hebrews 12:5,6,11
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
I have been having some "technical difficulties" with this week's email...i just finished writing it for the second time. The first was yesterday when i deleted most of the email after almost finishing it yesterday afternoon. Earlier this evening i manged to delete the first few paragraphs of the new one i had been working on this afternoon. In a "i can't believe i've done this again," i called John Mac and he graciously came to try rescue me..."Ctr Z" was too late as i had already gone to "drafts" to see if my email was still there. He found last night's email that i thought i had deleted in a different browser so you're getting the top part of last nights and the bottom part of todays! I am getting used to Google Chrome as a browser, and haven't figured out yet why i'm deleting stuff. I know this... my patience is being tried, and i am learning to practice what i'm sharing below, about GOD engineering our circumstances...in family, in life, in emails.
- Please remember in your prayers my friend Shirley, and her daughter Mishel and family, as she will be going for a biopsy on her brain next week. Mishel will be moving her to care for her Mom and is looking for part time work while she is here if anyone knows of anything.
- Please remember Tony and Taranda Greene as Tony is back in the hospital with his kidney not functioning properly. He only has one kidney, the one Taranda gave him last year, please be in prayer for them that they would trust the LORD in the circumstances HE has them in to bring HIM glory. LORD willing, The Greenes will be in concert, in Cullman, along with the Hoppers, and Gold City, Oct. 8. Call James Nicholson for ticket information at 256-227-4493.
Happy Birthday to my sister Jill in Leeds, Al...who is celebrating her birthday today actually, the 25th, and to my brother Tracy out in Sugar Land, Texas, who is celebrating Sunday, the 26th. I love ya'll and hope you have a wonderful birthday!
Now for this email the LORD has orchestrated in my computer illiteracy:
This week as i read a devotion by Elisabeth Elliot, she was sharing about the family GOD gave her to grow up in. I love reading and hearing about the families that GOD puts people in, and how HE uses those families, their strengths and weaknesses, to shape and conform those children for who HE is preparing them to be.
Elisabeth Elliot
The house where I was born, at 52 Rue Ernest Laude in Brussels, looks exactly as it does in the picture in my mother's photo album. The old snapshot is a study in grays. The one my husband Lars took much more recently is in color. The cobblestone street is the same in both. The bricks of which the house is built turn out to be rather pink; the white marble facade of the second and third stories has not changed. They have put new shades in the two first-floor windows, and the people in the pictures are different. In the first, on the second-floor wrought-iron balcony in sunshine, stands my mother, twenty-four years old, slim and straight, with a wonderful pile of dark satiny hair. She is wearing a dark ankle-length dress with a wide white cape-collar.
In the colored picture there are two cars, and near the front door, very wind-blown, stand I. How I longed to ask the present tenants to allow me to go up to the balcony, even into the kitchen where I was born.
Over sixty years have passed since I was last there. My mother had locked the front door when she fumed to the Dutch lady who was her helper.
"I feel as though I've forgotten something."
Adri knew very well what it was and wondered how far my mother would get before realizing that the five-month-old baby was still upstairs, wrapped in her bunting, ready for the ocean voyage.
There was something wondrously comforting about knowing, as I stood before that unremembered house, that this is where my parents lived, where they loved, where they welcomed into their small cold-water flat the newborn sister of their son Philip.
They were missionaries, working with what was then the Belgian Gospel Mission. Lars and I visited the old buildings; the little Flemish chapel where my father taught Sunday School and probably played the Steinway piano that stands there--bought by Mrs. Norton, wife of the founder of the mission (she sold her jewels to pay for it). We looked at an old photo album there with pictures of my grandparents, my great uncle, and my parents.
All of the past, I believe, is a part of God's story of each child of His--a mystery of love and sovereignty, written before the foundation of the world, never a hindrance to the task He has designed for us, but rather the very preparation suited to our particular personality's need.
"How can that be?" ask those whose heritage has not been a godly one as mine was, whose lives have not been peaceful. "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter" (Proverbs 25:2, NIV). God conceals much that we do not need to know, yet we do know that He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. When does that begin? Does the Shepherd overlook anything that the sheep need?
William Kay, who translated the Psalms in 1870, gives this note on Psalm 73:22: "Though I was supported by Thee and living 'with Thee' as Thy guest, yet I was insensible to Thy presence;--intent only on a small section of the visible course of things;--like the irrational animals that are ever looking down at the ground they are grazing.
"Yet I am perpetually with Thee, Thou hast laid hold on my right hand," wrote the psalmist. "Thou wilt guide me with Thy counsel and afterwards receive me in glory.... And as for me, nearness to God is my good; I have put my trust in the Lord God" (vv. 23, 24, 28, WK).
I sure missed writing you last week. Nope, i didn't go anywhere, i just could not get my thoughts together and got so sleepy when i had an opportunity to write. I asked you to pray for me about my allergies, and I appreciate that. I am in a search to find something i can take over the counter, and well last week, i was trying Benadryl and it was making me so sleepy and i was allergic to it. This morning (Thursday), i tried a little Claritin, and though i'm not too sleepy, i am having some issues with it. I thought to myself, "LORD, you sure could have made this a little easier on me." One by giving me normal allergies, instead of brain fogginess and other crazy issues, and two by allowing me to be able to take normal OTC drugs for my allergies, instead of me being allergic to them!" Yep, HE could have made this journey a lot easier on me, but then i would have missed out on a ton of lessons HE has taught me through it, the foremost of being how very much HE loves me and you.
Last week, i had the wonderful privilege of taking my neighbor kayaking who has taught me a lot about GOD's love. She has never been kayaking before and was a little afraid, thinking we were going in the whitewater kayaks with the little holes that you roll in and wouldn't be able to get out if she turned over. I wish i had kayaks like that, but just haven't been able to fit whitewater kayaking into my life....yet! When i reassured her that our kayaks were wide and very sturdy, it eased her fear a little. I loaded the boats the night before on top of the Jimmy and by a little before 8:00a.m. last Friday morning Sherri came walking up my driveway ready for a new adventure! I was ready too, and looking very much forward to spending time with my dear neighbor.
You have to understand, she is one of the most loving, thoughtful people i know, and is forever working to make the neighborhood closer and like an old-fashioned neighborhood where folks know one another, care for each other, look out for each other's kids. This neighborhood, which is actually begins right next to my house, even has a book club that meets, and Sherri manages to be a part of that group. Our local newspaper wrote an article a few months ago about the neighborhood and how very special it is...and much of that is because of the efforts of Sherri. If the neighborhood wasn't enough to keep her busy, she reaches out to those outside of the neighborhood, like me. I live right next door to their neighborhood. Anytime she sees someone on my FB who needs prayer, she finds out who they are, and has brought them a prayer blanket from their churches knitting ministry on more than one occasion, i can think of three. You talk about touching my heart...And if that isn't enough, her husband is pastor of one of the largest churches in our town, and she is on staff at the church, and leads various Bible studies and ministries there, and heads up the Wesley foundation ministry at our local college. Last and most important, Sherri takes care of her husband, and they have three grown children. She loves spoiling their grandson, Grey, who lives in Birmingham, every chance she gets. So, i was very honored and humbled a few weeks ago, when she sent me a message on FB and asked me to take her canoeing (thankfully i managed to talk her into kayaking!).
Sherri and i got in the Jimmy along with Troy and took off the short 15 minute ride to the river. I had never taken the kayaks on top of the Jimmy and was a little unsure, especially when they started loudly "humming," in the wind as we drove down our street...we hadn't even got started yet. The loud humming noise got much loader as we sped up on the main roads, but Sherri didn't seem to mind, and we joked about the "peaceful" trip to the river and just talked loudly over the roar of the kayaks. As Sherri said, "At least we know they're still on top!" That's a great way of looking at it and her acceptance and easy to get along with made me not so worried about it. I had prayed that we would have a relaxing time...and this wasn't my idea of relaxing with a wind tunnel on top of the car and we could hardly hear each other talking!
As we road out in the country, along New Cut Road, and down Baker Hill Road where the covered bridge is right before you get to the Elk River, we enjoyed talking and were both excited about our adventure. I had planned to take her up to Big Creek, my favorite "hideaway," to paddle up where you can see the fish swimming on the bottom the water is so clear. We got the boats unloaded, and thankfully didn't knock any mirrors off the side like i did one time unloading them off the top. Sherri took HB's yellow kayak, a Wilderness System Pungo 100 and she took to kayaking like a duck to the water. We paddled down the Elk a short ways there at Sportsman's Park where the trees and rocks surround the river to make a cozy cove, up under the bridge that crosses Baker Hill Road, and up to Big Creek. Sherri absolutely loved the beauty of it...as i do with trees on both side, and so peaceful you feel like you've stepped back in time. It sure is a treasure to me, and i love to share it with others. Sherri and i paddled as far as you can until you start dragging on the rocky bottom, and got out pulling our boats a short distance through the creek before getting out on the rocky shore. We drug our boats on the banks, spread out our towels, and made our "nest," for the next couple of hours. I had asked Sherri to bring along her Bible or book to have a devotion...but we never got to the "book," devotions. As butterflies flitted around our heads and from plant to plant, Sherri said, this is a devotion to me....and she was right! Marveling at GOD's creation, out in this beautiful place HE created, getting to know a most dear sister in CHRIST was more than a "devotion" than i could ask for...
As Sherri and i talked and watched Troy play along the creek, I really, really enjoyed getting to know this dear person. I had often wondered about Sherri, and how she handled trials in her life that she was such a joyful, overflowing CHRISTian. It might be easy to think she's had an easy life. As i listened to her share her stories, and she listened so very patiently as i shared my heart, I learned that Sherri had grown up in a difficult home life where he Daddy was a very heavy drinker. He often spent his pay check for things other than paying the bills. Having a step granddaddy who was an alcoholic for most of his life until he received CHRIST seven years before his death, i can relate to some of the sorrows that go along with an alcoholic. Sherri related to me that her dear Momma who loves CHRIST, prayed for her husband, stayed with him through thick and thin, and the LORD JESUS saved him after 46 years...wow! She said she got to see her Daddy down on his knees praying and GOD gave her Momma and Daddy sweet time loving and serving the LORD together before he died.
What a dear encouragement to my heart was Sherri's testimony of GOD's faithfulness in her family and the steadfast love and example of her Mother loving her husband through "thick and thin." What a testimony of the faithfulness of GOD to hear her Momma's prayers and save her Daddy.
Elisabeth Elliot
Source: A Lamp For My Feet
Scripture Reference: Psalm 73:22-28
A Small Section of the Visible CourseScripture Reference: Psalm 73:22-28
The house where I was born, at 52 Rue Ernest Laude in Brussels, looks exactly as it does in the picture in my mother's photo album. The old snapshot is a study in grays. The one my husband Lars took much more recently is in color. The cobblestone street is the same in both. The bricks of which the house is built turn out to be rather pink; the white marble facade of the second and third stories has not changed. They have put new shades in the two first-floor windows, and the people in the pictures are different. In the first, on the second-floor wrought-iron balcony in sunshine, stands my mother, twenty-four years old, slim and straight, with a wonderful pile of dark satiny hair. She is wearing a dark ankle-length dress with a wide white cape-collar.
In the colored picture there are two cars, and near the front door, very wind-blown, stand I. How I longed to ask the present tenants to allow me to go up to the balcony, even into the kitchen where I was born.
Over sixty years have passed since I was last there. My mother had locked the front door when she fumed to the Dutch lady who was her helper.
"I feel as though I've forgotten something."
Adri knew very well what it was and wondered how far my mother would get before realizing that the five-month-old baby was still upstairs, wrapped in her bunting, ready for the ocean voyage.
There was something wondrously comforting about knowing, as I stood before that unremembered house, that this is where my parents lived, where they loved, where they welcomed into their small cold-water flat the newborn sister of their son Philip.
They were missionaries, working with what was then the Belgian Gospel Mission. Lars and I visited the old buildings; the little Flemish chapel where my father taught Sunday School and probably played the Steinway piano that stands there--bought by Mrs. Norton, wife of the founder of the mission (she sold her jewels to pay for it). We looked at an old photo album there with pictures of my grandparents, my great uncle, and my parents.
All of the past, I believe, is a part of God's story of each child of His--a mystery of love and sovereignty, written before the foundation of the world, never a hindrance to the task He has designed for us, but rather the very preparation suited to our particular personality's need.
"How can that be?" ask those whose heritage has not been a godly one as mine was, whose lives have not been peaceful. "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter" (Proverbs 25:2, NIV). God conceals much that we do not need to know, yet we do know that He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. When does that begin? Does the Shepherd overlook anything that the sheep need?
William Kay, who translated the Psalms in 1870, gives this note on Psalm 73:22: "Though I was supported by Thee and living 'with Thee' as Thy guest, yet I was insensible to Thy presence;--intent only on a small section of the visible course of things;--like the irrational animals that are ever looking down at the ground they are grazing.
"Yet I am perpetually with Thee, Thou hast laid hold on my right hand," wrote the psalmist. "Thou wilt guide me with Thy counsel and afterwards receive me in glory.... And as for me, nearness to God is my good; I have put my trust in the Lord God" (vv. 23, 24, 28, WK).
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| Troy and me at Big Creek |
Elisabeth Elliot's words bring great comfort to me, especially as i look at my own faults and failures as a parent. I remember when before our kids were born, i thought pridefully that we would be good parents. Little did i know how struggling with a chronic illness everyday of their lives, would cause me to humbly depend on the LORD for my irritability with them, for the lack of being who i would have like to have been to them. GOD has given me GREAT comfort that HE is indeed strong in my weakness and used their weak parents to shape and equip and mold my children into who HE is preparing them to be, to accomplish HIS plans and purposes for their lives. We have made many mistakes...and failed so miserably at times, and have often had to ask our children to forgive us. We continue to be human and fail...and GOD constantly reassures me that HE knows what HE's about giving us our children, or more humbly giving them us as parents...and i am humbled at HIS trust of us. I think it's interesting that both of our children are preparing for medical careers. They have grown up with a Mom who has very much been dependent on GOD using doctor's and nurses to help me. I pray the LORD will use them greatly to bring healing to their patients physically and spiritually the way that I have been so blessed through the physicians and nurses GOD has used in my life to bring healing to me.
When our kids were growing up we listened to a tape about a young man who grew up in the home of a heavy drinker. His Daddy would often come home in the middle of the night drunk and drag this young man up out of his bed and make him practice the piano for hours.
As i was preparing to write yesterday, the first draft of this email:)...GOD reminded me that HE sent HIS SON to earth to die for our sins. That seemed like very, very harsh parenting...like GOD didn't love HIS own SON. But JESUS death was the key to our LIFE....and because HE died, and endured the cross and was raised to life and sits at the right hand of the FATHER, we LIVE and we will LIVE ETERNALLY with HIM! What seemed to be the worst day in history was the best...what seemed to be a harsh Daddy, was a loving DADDY, and HE loves HIS SON so very much, that HE gave HIM us...HE raised HIM from the dead, and released the captives through HIS death for all who will humble themselves and repent, and surrender their lives to the LORD JESUS.
"Although HE was a SON, HE learned obedience from the things which HE suffered. And having been made perfect, HE became to all those who obey HIM the source of eternal salvation." Hebrews 5:8-9
What i am sharing with you today, is a lesson that GOD continues to teach me every day of my life, as HE continually reveals to me how much HE loves me. The things that have seemed the most harsh in my life, are the things that my loving heavenly FATHER has designed to bring about a result that brings glory to HIM. I would not have chose my sickness...but GOD in HIS divine plan, knew that it would be what i needed to struggle with to accomplish HIS plans and purposes not just for my life....but my children's life, my husband's and all that our lives touch.
One of my favorite quotes from "Streams in the Desert" that has greatly encouraged me through the years is:
**GOD TRAINS HIS SOLDIERS NOT IN TENTS OF EASE AND LUXURY, BUT BY CAUSING THEM TO ENDURE LENGTHY MARCHES AND DIFFICULT SERVICE . He makes them WADE ACROSS STREAMS, SWIM THROUGH RIVERS, CLIMB MOUNTAINS, and WALK MANY TIRING MILES WITH HEAVY BACKPACKS.
My sickness had definitely been one of "enduring lengthy marches, difficult service, wading across streams, swimming through rivers, climbing mountains and walking many tiring miles with a heavy backpack." But this is the "discipline" that GOD has chosen for my life to accomplish HIS plans and purposes and i praise HIM for it...most of the time:).
Sometimes, it's not always easy to remember that HE disciplines us for HIS good when we are in the midst of the discipline. When i deleted my email yesterday...and that was such a little thing, i was not happy about that discipline whatever it was about...it was an inconvenience to me to have to write it all over, though i like to write you, i didn't want to do it twice! This was a small, tiny thing...not like Mishel and her Mom are facing with her "spots," in her brain, or Josie struggling for her life...there trial and discipline is and was of a much more significant scale, than the small inconvenience i suffered loosing my email. However, if we learn to see everything through spiritual eyes, then GOD enables us to be able to even give thanks and rejoice whether we are "wading across the streams" or "climbing mountains," and gradually we learn that indeed we do have a loving heavenly FATHER who loves us so very much, instead of a harsh Daddy who is sitting in heaven cracking HIS whip trying to make our life miserable through our circumstances HE engineers for us.
I hope and pray that today's email is an encouragement to your heart as it is to mine. When i lost that email, i was getting ready to go paddling with my brother for a "moonlight paddle," something i've always wanted to do. I was still reacting to the allergy medicine and feeling irritable...and rewriting the email just wasn't in my plans for today. But on the way to the river last night, the HOLY SPIRIT prompted me to start singing Praise Songs to my FATHER. I didn't feel like it...i just did it out of obedience, and i want you to know by the time i got there, the HOLY SPIRIT had lifted my heart, and i was no longer irritated about loosing the email. GOD had a reason, and HE has a specific reason, purpose and plan for the parents HE gives us, the brothers and sisters HE gives us, the bosses, the co workers...all HE brings into our lives HE is using to make us WHO HE created us to be...to bring HIM much glory through the good works HE created us to do in CHRIST JESUS. The work that is of supreme significance is bringing others to know the LORD JESUS CHRIST as their personal SAVIOR...
Elisabeth Elliot's words bring great comfort to me, especially as i look at my own faults and failures as a parent. I remember when before our kids were born, i thought pridefully that we would be good parents. Little did i know how struggling with a chronic illness everyday of their lives, would cause me to humbly depend on the LORD for my irritability with them, for the lack of being who i would have like to have been to them. GOD has given me GREAT comfort that HE is indeed strong in my weakness and used their weak parents to shape and equip and mold my children into who HE is preparing them to be, to accomplish HIS plans and purposes for their lives. We have made many mistakes...and failed so miserably at times, and have often had to ask our children to forgive us. We continue to be human and fail...and GOD constantly reassures me that HE knows what HE's about giving us our children, or more humbly giving them us as parents...and i am humbled at HIS trust of us. I think it's interesting that both of our children are preparing for medical careers. They have grown up with a Mom who has very much been dependent on GOD using doctor's and nurses to help me. I pray the LORD will use them greatly to bring healing to their patients physically and spiritually the way that I have been so blessed through the physicians and nurses GOD has used in my life to bring healing to me.
When our kids were growing up we listened to a tape about a young man who grew up in the home of a heavy drinker. His Daddy would often come home in the middle of the night drunk and drag this young man up out of his bed and make him practice the piano for hours.
" His father was said to be a violent and intemperate man, who returned home late at night much worse for drink and dragged young Ludwig from his bed in order to "beat" music lessons into the boy's sleepy head. There are also stories of his father forcing him to play his violin for the amusement of his drinking cronies. Despite these and other abuses - which might well have persuaded as lesser person to loathe the subject - the young Beethoven developed a sensitivity and vision for music." http://www.lucare.com/immortal/childhood.html
His Daddy taught his son to play the piano, and in his weakness of drinking, he forced him to play for hours at a time. This young man grew up to be one of the world's greatest piano players and composers we have ever known, his name is Ludwig van Beethoven. Though this young man grew up in a most difficult family situation, GOD knew what HE was about in preparing Beethoven to be the great musician that he was.
GOD knows what HE's about in our lives...HE sees the beginning and the end...and HE created us for good works in CHRIST JESUS. HE is our CREATOR, and HE has specific works for us to accomplish for HIS glory. Our lives are not our own...
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of GOD; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10
As i was preparing to write yesterday, the first draft of this email:)...GOD reminded me that HE sent HIS SON to earth to die for our sins. That seemed like very, very harsh parenting...like GOD didn't love HIS own SON. But JESUS death was the key to our LIFE....and because HE died, and endured the cross and was raised to life and sits at the right hand of the FATHER, we LIVE and we will LIVE ETERNALLY with HIM! What seemed to be the worst day in history was the best...what seemed to be a harsh Daddy, was a loving DADDY, and HE loves HIS SON so very much, that HE gave HIM us...HE raised HIM from the dead, and released the captives through HIS death for all who will humble themselves and repent, and surrender their lives to the LORD JESUS.
"Although HE was a SON, HE learned obedience from the things which HE suffered. And having been made perfect, HE became to all those who obey HIM the source of eternal salvation." Hebrews 5:8-9
What i am sharing with you today, is a lesson that GOD continues to teach me every day of my life, as HE continually reveals to me how much HE loves me. The things that have seemed the most harsh in my life, are the things that my loving heavenly FATHER has designed to bring about a result that brings glory to HIM. I would not have chose my sickness...but GOD in HIS divine plan, knew that it would be what i needed to struggle with to accomplish HIS plans and purposes not just for my life....but my children's life, my husband's and all that our lives touch.
One of my favorite quotes from "Streams in the Desert" that has greatly encouraged me through the years is:
**GOD TRAINS HIS SOLDIERS NOT IN TENTS OF EASE AND LUXURY, BUT BY CAUSING THEM TO ENDURE LENGTHY MARCHES AND DIFFICULT SERVICE . He makes them WADE ACROSS STREAMS, SWIM THROUGH RIVERS, CLIMB MOUNTAINS, and WALK MANY TIRING MILES WITH HEAVY BACKPACKS.
My sickness had definitely been one of "enduring lengthy marches, difficult service, wading across streams, swimming through rivers, climbing mountains and walking many tiring miles with a heavy backpack." But this is the "discipline" that GOD has chosen for my life to accomplish HIS plans and purposes and i praise HIM for it...most of the time:).
Sometimes, it's not always easy to remember that HE disciplines us for HIS good when we are in the midst of the discipline. When i deleted my email yesterday...and that was such a little thing, i was not happy about that discipline whatever it was about...it was an inconvenience to me to have to write it all over, though i like to write you, i didn't want to do it twice! This was a small, tiny thing...not like Mishel and her Mom are facing with her "spots," in her brain, or Josie struggling for her life...there trial and discipline is and was of a much more significant scale, than the small inconvenience i suffered loosing my email. However, if we learn to see everything through spiritual eyes, then GOD enables us to be able to even give thanks and rejoice whether we are "wading across the streams" or "climbing mountains," and gradually we learn that indeed we do have a loving heavenly FATHER who loves us so very much, instead of a harsh Daddy who is sitting in heaven cracking HIS whip trying to make our life miserable through our circumstances HE engineers for us.
I hope and pray that today's email is an encouragement to your heart as it is to mine. When i lost that email, i was getting ready to go paddling with my brother for a "moonlight paddle," something i've always wanted to do. I was still reacting to the allergy medicine and feeling irritable...and rewriting the email just wasn't in my plans for today. But on the way to the river last night, the HOLY SPIRIT prompted me to start singing Praise Songs to my FATHER. I didn't feel like it...i just did it out of obedience, and i want you to know by the time i got there, the HOLY SPIRIT had lifted my heart, and i was no longer irritated about loosing the email. GOD had a reason, and HE has a specific reason, purpose and plan for the parents HE gives us, the brothers and sisters HE gives us, the bosses, the co workers...all HE brings into our lives HE is using to make us WHO HE created us to be...to bring HIM much glory through the good works HE created us to do in CHRIST JESUS. The work that is of supreme significance is bringing others to know the LORD JESUS CHRIST as their personal SAVIOR...
""If you are a child of GOD, you have been chosen by GOD for a task of supreme significance-to be a bearer and nurturer of spiritual life by carrying the life of the LORD JESUS to others."
"We are therefore CHRIST's ambassadors, as though GOD were making HIS appeal through us. (2 Cor. 5:20).
Our loving FATHER sure knew what HE was doing putting Sherri Bassham in the family she grew up in to equip her to be HIS ambassador to share the good news of the LORD JESUS CHRIST. GOD took that little girl he was preparing to serve some of the largest Methodist churches in the state of Alabama and minister to them through the heart HE developed in her in her circumstances. He knows what HE is doing in your life and mine:
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are MY ways higher than your ways, so are My thoughts higher than your thoughts."
"Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is HE who sits above the vault of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spread them out like a tent to dwell in.
HE it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root int he earth, But HE merely blows on them, and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble.
To whom then will you liken ME that I should be his equal?" says the HOLY One.Lift up your eyes on high And see WHO has created these stars,
The ONE who leads forth their host by number, HE calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of HIS might and the strength of HIS power, Not one of them is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me escapes the notice of my GOD"? Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The EVERLASTING GOD, the LORD, the CREATOR of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. HIS understanding is inscrutable. HE gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might HE increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."
Isaiah 40:21-31
This week, i have so enjoyed looking up at the beautiful full Moon and stars as i've walked the dogs in the evening...even paddling by the night of the moonlight last night with my dear brother Ralph...a long time desire of my heart my loving FATHER gave me. I am continually amazed at GOD's wisdom, HIS majesty, HIS power to hang the moon and stars on nothing...and the power to redeem man, and bring life out of death through HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. "Indescribable" by Chris Tomlin, who is going to be in concert Oct.9 at the Civic Center in Huntsville, describes our amazing GOD and HIS indescribable power over HIS creation...giving me great comfort and peace that HE has power to control the circumstances that concern me. Indescribable by Chris Tomlin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
You are so very kind to spend this time with me...thank you so much for your dear prayers and encouragement to our family. Your emails are such a blessing to me. Forgive me if i don't always respond promptly...i am having trouble keeping up these days, my brain doesn't always work as quickly as i'd like but GOD knows what HE's about...please know each and every word is a dear encouragement to my heart. Now, i'm going to send this email...before i delete it...and i just missed sending it on Friday...oh well, this week, it's the Saturday Special! I love ya'll!
"See how great a love the heavenly FATHER has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of GOD and such we are..." I John 3:1
"When I cannot understand my FATHER's leading
And it seems to be but hard and cruel fate.
Still I hear that gentle whisper ever pleading,
GOD is working, GOD is faithful, ONLY WAIT."
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| Sherri Bassham relaxing at Big Creek |
