“O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.” (Jeremiah 10:23)
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
Yesterday was Veteran's Day...the day that we honor all those who have laid down their lives, either in death or in life, that we might enjoy the freedoms we have. The older i get, the more i realize that "freedom is not free." What my Daddy and others fought and fight for with their very blood and lives, we often take for granted. I am so thankful for Veteran's Day as it causes me to stop and remember what others have sacrificed.
Earlier this week, i called Mom and Dad to see if they wanted to do something today since it was Veteran's Day. My dear Daddy is a WWII Veteran. He was in the Navy and he was the storekeeper on the ship. He was in Okinawa on a Navy Battleship and the Kamikaze planes dove down at their ship. Daddy was 17 when he signed up. He was still in high school, and when he returned from the war, he graduated with my Mother who was the valedictorian of her class. Wish her brains would have rubbed off on me:).
Daddy wanted to go to a Veteran's Parade for Veteran's Day and not being able to find a closer one, we made plans to go to the Huntsville parade. Early yesterday morning, Daddy called me and said that Decatur was having a parade starting at 9:00a.m. Since Decatur was just across the Tennessee River from where Mom and Dad live, he wanted to go to that one. He asked if i could be ready that soon, and although it rushed my morning a little bit, i was glad to rearrange my morning for my Daddy to honor him. I got down to Mom and Dad's about ten til 9:00 and my Daddy sure looked handsome in his navy colored cap that said "World War II Veteran," across the front. After speaking to my Mom and giving her a hug, Daddy and i headed off to the parade. We parked the Yukon in the gravel parking lot, and when we got out, a Veteran handed Daddy and me little American flags to wave. We were there, maybe two minutes...when Channel 48 news walked up to my Daddy, and a veteran of Vietnam beside him and began to interview them. She asked them what it meant to them to be here at this parade today celebrating Veteran's Day. My Daddy told of the sacrifice of lives of so many guys he knew near Tennessee where he lived that didn't come home from the war. He was there to honor them. I was really proud and thankful for my Daddy and all the men and women who have served to defend our freedoms. You can see that interview here with my Daddy http://www.waff.com/
As the bands marched by playing patriotic songs, and fancy cars and motorcycles carrying Veterans, they waved and we thanked them for their service. Some who were in the parade would see my Daddy and the man beside him in his cap, and thanked them for their serving our country. The parade ended all too soon for me and I asked Daddy if he wanted to go to Huntsville to the Veteran's Day parade. As we headed toward home he told me that after the parade they were having a service for the Veteran's at the Morgan County Courthouse. So, i turned the car back around and we headed to the courthouse. There weren't many people there as the parade was still going downtown, and as we waited, Daddy wanted to walk around the courtyard, and read the monuments. He said as long as he had lived there he had never taken time to read the monuments. As we walked slowly, Daddy took his time reading his names on the monuments...one of the monuments was honoring those from Morgan Co. who had given their life's for the Confederate States during the Civil War. We almost missed the WWII monument...and when we came to it, Daddy took his time to read all of the names of the young men in Morgan Co. who didn't come home from the war. As Daddy stood their reading those names, I thought about the fact that i wouldn't be here, my family wouldn't be here if Daddy hadn't come home and how the war had altered so many lives...Daddy's and sons and i'm sure some women who didn't come back. GOD was sovereign and had a plan in all of those lives who didn't come home to their families and those who did. I wondered why GOD chose to bring my Daddy back home and let him marry my Mom, and raise 5 children together, who would have 11 grandchildren. I decided to take a picture of Daddy reading those names and for some reason i turned around, and there was a photographer from the Decatur Daily, with a long lens on his camera also taking a picture of my Daddy reading those names on the monument. He was super nice, and he told my Daddy that his Granddaddy was a Veteran of WWII and he was in his early thirties,married with two little ones when he was drafted. Daddy and the friendly photographer talked a few minutes, and i was able to record their conversation on my camera as they talked of the great sacrifices that so many made during World War II...sacrifices that our generation doesn't realize the depth of. http://www.facebook.com/
Yet, there are those serving now who do realize, as they are defending our nation's freedom's even today. I thank the LORD for those young men like Alan and Chad CHRISTian and Gena Spearing's son, Nathan, and my nephew Daniel, who serve or served in our military. I want to honor them and all of our Veteran's who have sacrificed and fought to defend our freedoms.
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| Daddy shakes the hand of another WWII Veteran |
It was a great joy for me to be with my Daddy yesterday, and i wanted to honor him and do everything that he wanted to do. If he had wanted to drive to Birmingham for a parade, i would have done it. But i'm sad to say, i haven't always been this way. When i was a teenager, i rebelled against my Daddy's wishes for me, and i walked in sin. When JESUS saved me at 19, that was one of the first things HE did, was made me sorrowful over the way i had rebelled against my Mom and Dad, and gave me a desire to be obedient to them, and under their authority. I went to them and asked their forgiveness for my rebellious attitudes during my teenage years, and they were more than happy to forgive me. As i have gotten older, i realize more and more the dear blessing that my heavenly FATHER has bestowed upon me in the Mom and Dad that HE gave me to be my parents and i cherish the time with them here on earth.
I read a couple of devotions this week by Oswald Chambers, in "My Utmost for HIS Highest," that reminded me that my relationship with my heavenly DADDY is similar to that of my earthly Daddy. When i was younger i wanted to do my own thing and go my own way, I was rebellious thinking i knew better. But when CHRIST came into my heart, HE gave me a new heart, with new desires to obey my earthly Daddy and my heavenly DADDY...i was "a new creature in CHRIST." "If any man be in CHRIST, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold,all things are become new." II Cor. 5:17. As you and i grow in our relationship with our LORD JESUS CHRIST, one of the characteristics should be "A Changed Life" a desire to please our heavenly FATHER, surrendering our wills to HIS, that HE might accomplish HIS plans and purposes through our lives, and bear much fruit.
Nov. 12, My Utmost for HIS Highest
What understanding do you have of the salvation of your soul? The work of salvation means that in your real life things are dramatically changed. You no longer look at things in the same way. Your desires are new and the old things have lost their power to attract you. One of the tests for determining if the work of salvation in your life is genuine is— has God changed the things that really matter to you? If you still yearn for the old things, it is absurd to talk about being born from above— you are deceiving yourself. If you are born again, the Spirit of God makes the change very evident in your real life and thought. And when a crisis comes, you are the most amazed person on earth at the wonderful difference there is in you. There is no possibility of imagining that you did it. It is this complete and amazing change that is the very evidence that you are saved.
What difference has my salvation and sanctification made? For instance, can I stand in the light of 1 Corinthians 13 , or do I squirm and evade the issue? True salvation, worked out in me by the Holy Spirit, frees me completely. And as long as I “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7), God sees nothing to rebuke because His life is working itself into every detailed part of my being, not on the conscious level, but even deeper than my consciousness.
Nov. 10, My Utmost for HIS Highest
After sanctification, it is difficult to state what your purpose in life is, because God has moved you into His purpose through the Holy Spirit. He is using you now for His purposes throughout the world as He used His Son for the purpose of our salvation. If you seek great things for yourself, thinking, “God has called me for this and for that,” you barricade God from using you. As long as you maintain your own personal interests and ambitions, you cannot be completely aligned or identified with God’s interests. This can only be accomplished by giving up all of your personal plans once and for all, and by allowing God to take you directly into His purpose for the world. Your understanding of your ways must also be surrendered, because they are now the ways of the Lord.
I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me. God is using me from His great personal perspective, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him. I should never say, “Lord, this causes me such heartache.” To talk that way makes me a stumbling block. When I stop telling God what I want, He can freely work His will in me without any hindrance. He can crush me, exalt me, or do anything else He chooses. He simply asks me to have absolute faith in Him and His goodness. Self-pity is of the devil, and if I wallow in it I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world. Doing this creates for me my own cozy “world within the world,” and God will not be allowed to move me from it because of my fear of being “frost-bitten.”
As i stood with my Daddy looking at that WWII Monument with the names listed of those who gave their lives for our freedom, I pondered the fact that GOD chose to bring my Daddy home, while some gave all...i couldn't quiet understand. I know that GOD is sovereign, and HE can "crush us, waste us, exalt us or do anything HE chooses." These men lives were taken, and some went HOME to be with JESUS, that we might be free. Momma's and Daddy's hearts , brothers and sisters, and wives hearts were broken, hopes were crushed, when their loves ones didn't return home.
Our Heavenly DADDY knows what it feels like to give up HIS SON, because that's exactly what HE did for us that we might be free from the guilt and burden and shackles of sin that we all are born into.
"For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only begotten SON that whosoever believeth in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3;16
JESUS was mangled for us, beaten, tortured, as many of our soldiers have been, and HE shed HIS blood for us on a wooden cross:
"HE was wounded for our transgressions, HE was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon HIM; and with HIS stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5
HE was raised victoriously, that all that receive HIM might know freedom from our sins, that CHRIST might dwell in our hearts by faith, and experience all the riches of being an heir with our LORD JESUS CHRIST. GOD loves us so very much...HE gave all that we might be free.
This Sunday, our choir at FBC, Athens, is singing the song, "Precious LORD, Take My Hand." When i was little, my Daddy would take me by the hand and lead me. He knew the way and he protected me from danger. As i get older, i learn more and more how my SAVIOR who died to set me free from my rebellion and other sins is also "My ROCK, my FORTRESS, and my Deliverer...my ROCK in WHOM i take Refuge," Psalm 18:2. HE leads me and guides me in paths i don't even realize and often don't understand to accomplish HIS plans and purposes for creating me and redeeming me. I don't have to know the way, i just need to hold HIS hand and follow HIM. Wherever we are in life, whether it's on a physical battlefield as our Veteran's fought on and a soldier's fight on now or a spiritual battlefield here at home, the LORD is guiding our steps and HE is here with us. He wants us to reach out to HIM, and take HIS hand and HE longs to be our "All and All." We can only experience HIS tender love and mercy this way, as we abide in HIM, through HIS WORD, through prayers, through the fellowship of other believers, and sharing the Gospel with those the LORD leads us to. There are so many trials in our lives, and i thank GOD for those as they teach us to reach out for HIM, and grasp HIS strong and steady hand. HE longs to show us how very faithful and trustworthy HE is to lead us through every pathway that HE has for us. HE uses these trials to make us reach out for HIM, so that CHRIST might dwell in our hearts more and more as HE guides us safely HOME.
Precious Lord Take My Hand
Words & music by Thomas A. Dorsey
- Precious Lord, take my hand
- Lead me on, let me stand
- I'm tired, I’m weak, I’m lone
- Through the storm, through the night
- Lead me on to the light
- Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home
- When my way grows drear precious Lord linger near
- When my life is almost gone
- Hear my cry, hear my call
- Hold my hand lest I fall
- Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home
- When the darkness appears and the night draws near
- And the day is past and gone
- At the river I stand
- Guide my feet, hold my hand
- Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home
- Precious Lord, take my hand
- Lead me on, let me stand
- I'm tired, I’m weak, Lord I’m worn
- Through the storm, through the night
- Lead me on to the light
- Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Thank you for taking time to let me share my heart with you today, and the thoughts the LORD has given me. You are a great blessing and joy to me and i love hearing from you. Thank you for your prayers for our family and encouragement to us. Hannah Beth and her friends from Mobile had a great mission trip to Nashville last week, as they painted a cottage at the Baptist Children's home. I was able to see Hannah Beth on her way up, and the group stopped and ate with us at our restaurant on Sunday. The LORD really blessed us. Thank you so much for your prayers for them and for us.
With all HIS love,
mitzi
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