"Now, our GOD, we give YOU thanks, and praise YOUR GLORIOUS NAME." I Chronicles 29:13
"Be thankful unto HIM, and bless HIS name." Psalm 100:4
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
Prayer and Praises:
Hannah Beth along with other students from the University of Mobile are going on "Urban" mission trips this weekend. Her group is headed up to Nashville today...please pray for them that GOD would keep them safe as they travel, and use them mightily to accomplish HIS plans and purposes.
John Mac has about 4 weeks of school left before he will graduate on Dec. 4. Please pray for him that he would depend on the LORD and finish strong. We give GOD all the glory and praise for what HE has accomplished through him. After he finishes his electrical engineering degree from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, he plans to take the test to enter medical school next spring.
My Mother in law- having some medical issues, doctors ran test this week, she cooked us a wonderful meal this week in spite of not feeling well, it was great to all be together.
Taranda Greene- singing out in California this week without her beloved husband, Tony who went home to be with the LORD Sept. 28..please keep Taranda and John Jeffreys who plays the piano for her in your prayers.
Mishel Ferguson- my dear friend from California, now from Nebraska,is getting married this Sunday! Praise the LORD for HIS goodness and gracious to bring beauty for ashes, and the oil of joy for mourning in her life. Congratulations Todd and Mishel!!!!
Jill and Dennis Marceau-after going without regular jobs for a couple of years, the LORD is opening the door for my brother in law to work at Toyota in Tupelo, Mississippi. Praise the LORD!!!
Wow... talk about GOD "heightening our powers" last week...HE answered that prayer and last Saturday night, the LORD must have brought 200 or more trick or treaters to our door! I have never seen a whole neighborhood go trick or treating at once, but that's what the neighborhood beside us did. At a little before 6:00 p.m. i saw about 25 kids dressed in their costumes, playing on the grass across the street,anxiously awaiting the time to go...it wasn't too long before all 25 of the darlings were on our doorstep. . Sherri Bassham, the pastor's wife at First Methodist, asked her Wesleyan girls from her college ministry to take the kids trick or treating. They did a great job keeping the kids organized.
I wasn't able to give everyone a Chick tract http://www.chick.com/
The next night, we had the Harvest Fall Festival at our church. I am so touched by the outreach of First Baptist to our community. There were pony rides, little cars to ride in, a real fire truck, games inside the family life center, soft drinks, grilled out hamburgers, a praise band, and "Trunk or Treat," where about 40 folks volunteered to decorate their car trunks and hand out candy to those who came by. Two ladies were pushing carts all evenings to make sure everyone kept stocked up in candy...all for no charge, but as a gift to our community to share the love of JESUS CHRIST with them.
I drug our big ole stuffed catfish up there, along with a stuffed bass i ordered from Bass Pro Shop several years ago for the kids , along with a fish net Johnny had brought home from the restaurant. I put an orange T shirt out from our restaurant that says, "Catch the one that got away," on the back. I made a poster and stuck it on the front of the table cloth covering the card tables that said, "Follow ME and I will make you fishers of men...Matthew 4:19" Later on i wished i had taken my rod and reel and tackle box for more decoration...oh well, there's always next year. The kids loved petting the catfish and bass...it was so funny how they were fascinated by those big stuffed fish and wanted to touch them. Johnny and i passed out candy, along with everyone else who decorated their trunks, for over two hours. Johnny got there a little later than i did, and man when he got there he really started getting the tracts distributed that i had laying on the table. He was a huge help, and i loved him being there with me. He did make me turn my Jonathon Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry GOD," CD off saying it was adding to the noise. I kind of bristled about that...but did submit:). GOD brought the harvest again, and i have no idea how many came through, hundreds for sure, lots and lots and lots of families, and several Hispanic families so we got to share the Hispanic tracts too. We saw families from the Hispanic church we used to help with along with Br. Raul Tovar, the Hispanic pastor. It was another GREAT night and so very thankful for the opportunity to be used by the LORD to proclaim HIS GREAT NAME and show HIS love and share the gospel with so many...pray that many will come to know CHRIST and be drawn nearer to CHRIST through all the churches outreach last weekend.
| Troy in his sweater and life jacket on the Elk River |
I have to confess to you, there were many years when i got that banner out, that i had to thank the LORD in faith when i looked at that verse. Homeschooling is a challenge in itself if you're a healthy Momma, but it was a real challenge at times as i struggled with an ongoing illness...one that left me utterly depending on the LORD for what HE was teaching my kids and shaping and molding them to be. Looking at that banner, and thinking on that verse always gave me courage that this was GOD's will for me and to thank HIM for it in faith even when i didn't feel well. I used to often wish that my kids had a Momma that didn't struggle with the environmental allergies that i do...that their Momma could be "normal," and not have to sleep in the car on vacation, or be able to go and do like the other Mom's. I used to wish a lot of things...and if i were honest, i still do wish sometimes that i didn't have to struggle with this illness...but slowly but surely the LORD JESUS is reminding me, "this is the will of GOD in CHRIST JESUS concerning you," and these are the circumstances HE has engineered for our family to shape us and mold us and be a witness for HIM in these circumstances.
Yesterday, i was reminded that "these circumstances," are where HE has led us and uses us to be a help to those coming behind us. I met a with a wife and Mom that Johnny had bailed out of jail on Sunday. He told me she might call me, and sure enough she did and we met for lunch earlier this week. I was running late from walking and going to vote, and just had my t shirt, and comfortable walking pants, and tennis shoes on when i walked into Sweet Peppers, the deli shop. She came in, dressed nicely with makeup, a beautiful smile, and very pleasant appearance. She didn't look like someone who had been in jail a couple of days before. As the young lady and i talked, she's only a few years younger than me, but she seemed younger, i recognized in her, some of the same health issues that i have struggled with... and if i told you what they were, you would think she was crazy but it's real, where chemicals can make you so irritable it makes you feel angry and out of control. She seemed relieved that i understood her struggles with her anger, and difficulty controlling her feelings. I have dealt tremendously with anger as this is one of my allergic reactions to vitamins, medications, new TV's, new ping pong table, new treadmill, new cars, soaps, cleaning supplies, pesticides etc...etc. You've read about some of those episodes here:). The young lady and i talked for over an hour, closer to two before we both had to go. She is a CHRISTian, i think, and really struggling with some physical issues, which affects every area of her life. She is hungry for the LORD, and wants help. Please pray for this girl and her husband and for Johnny and i to have wisdom in reaching out to them. I am thankful the LORD has allowed Johnny and i to go down this path of environmental illness so we can be an encouragement to this couple, and others the LORD brings our way who have similar struggles.
When Johnny and his brother, Jerry, got into the bail bondsman business a while back...i can tell you i wasn't too thrilled...and i wasn't "giving thanks" for this new business endeavor. "Bail bond..." that just always sounded kind of rough or shady or something to me. GOD sure does overrule my protests, and my prejudices. Through this business, which my husband is on call 24/7 and never complains, the LORD has continued to met our needs, and given Johnny many, many opportunities to share CHRIST with those he gets out of jail. With Johnny's Dad being the sheriff the whole time Johnny was growing up, and Johnny loved police work, he knows the ins and outs of jail stuff and is well fitted to counsel the people on what to do, as well as being compassionate and sharing the love of JESUS with them in a difficult situation. I have been amazed to hear his patience and my heart is touched with this compassion with people as he talks with them on the phone. I am giving thanks now, because i can see how the LORD is providing not only our physical needs, but is using my husband as a missionary as a bail bondsman to lead others to CHRIST and be an encouragement to them and their families. When you're in difficult situations like these people usually are, their hearts are a lot more open to hearing about JESUS.
This past Sunday, we had a special speaker at church, and his message was challenging us that we are all missionaries exactly where the LORD JESUS "engineers our circumstances." It is through these circumstances that HE tells us to be HIS witnesses: "But you shall receive power when the HOLY SPIRIT has come upon you; and you shall be MY witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." Acts 1:8. Whether we are a stay at home Mom, a teacher, a lawyer, an engineer, retired, a doctor...a bail bondsman, or own a restaurant, we are missionaries, and we are commanded by JESUS to "go and teach others to observe all that I have commanded you and surely I AM with you always, to the very end of the age." Matt. 28:20.
Just as the worship service was over last week, Johnny received a call to go to the jail. Someone asked him where he was going and he told them to the jail. When they teased him about it, he told them it was a great opportunity to witness to people. I am so thankful for my husband and the way the LORD is using HIM to share CHRIST through the restaurant and through the bail bond business.
We all have different circumstances the LORD JESUS created us to be in so that we could share HIM with others in those circumstances. The greatest need that you and I have and that others have is to be cleansed of our sin, freed from the bondage of sin and a personal relationship with our LORD JESUS. GOD loves each and every one of us so very much that HE sent HIS one and "only SON that whosoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16. Because GOD is holy, we cannot share in a personal relationship with HIM and have peace with HIM, until we have been cleansed of our sins and"born again." We do this trusting in what CHRIST did for us on the Cross, by repenting of our sins, and surrendering our wills and lives to the LORD JESUS CHRIST as our LORD and SAVIOR. "But as many as received HIM to them HE gave the right to become the children of GOD, even to those who believe on HIS name." John 1:12
"Trust or tyranny. That is the option. Trust the promises of GOD-which will free you to live joyfully under HIS loving LORDship-or live under the tyranny of that which you will not surrender." Nancy Leigh DeMoss, http://www.
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which CHRIST has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." Gal. 5:1
I sure do remember those years as a teenager when i thought i was a CHRISTian but was in bondage to sin. I lived under the "tyranny of that which i would not surrender," dating someone who wasn't a CHRISTian. I wrestled with that for four years living under the tyranny of a "guilty," conscience. Thankfully, CHRIST, by HIS grace, saved me after the music director of Central Baptist invited our Fellowship of CHRISTian Athletes group to come to their revival. I went and listened, and clutched the back of the pew when the minister invited us to come up and make a commitment to date only CHRISTians, save our body for marriage and marry a CHRISTian. I had tried many times on my own, and failed. But as the HOLY SPIRIT led me to let go of the pew and walk up that aisle in surrender to the LORD, HE cleansed me from my sin right then and there at that altar, and gave me a joy that i'd never known. HE empowered me not to live under that tyranny of sin any longer, as HIS HOLY SPIRIT came to dwell inside me. HE gave me a loving church family to surround me and help me grow as a CHRISTian and hold me accountable. HE saved me and then saved my boyfriend a month later. We have been married for 27 years now and i thank the LORD for HIS grace that saved us and continues to set us free from sin in our lives. We are not perfect but the LORD in HIS patience, continues to "construct" us and make us to be more like HIS precious SON as we trust HIS GREAT promises through the circumstances HE engineers for us. "And you shall know the TRUTH and the TRUTH shall make you free." John 8:32.
I am so thankful for my Mom and Dad, sister and brothers, neighbors, SS teachers, pastors, coaches, and so many who proclaimed HIS "GREAT NAME," to me before i got saved. It took awhile, but in GOD's time, HE saved me from my sins. HE made me a new creature with new desires, and a new heart, and sent HIS HOLY SPIRIT to dwell in me and live HIS life through me.
"And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart." Ezekiel 36:26
This week, many of us watched the World Series...i sure did hate to see the Rangers loose, but GOD has HIS plans and purposes for it all. I received an email right before the game Monday night sharing different testimonies of men who played for the Giants and the Rangers and was so thrilled to see that GOD has HIS missionaries playing on both teams proclaiming 'HIS Great Name." http://www.cbn.com/
Our friends Josh and Crystal Murphree, http://www.
Elisabeth Elliot, http://
Jim Elliot and the other missionaries sacrifice of their lives reminds me of the devotion i read this morning: Winning others to CHRIST often comes with a very high price, even the price of blood. JESUS CHRIST shed HIS blood for us that HE might redeem us, from sin...and HIS followers are required to lay down our lives, our wishes, our hopes and dreams, that others might come to know HIM. "If any man would come after ME, let him deny himself take up his cross daily and follow ME." Luke 9:23
Author: Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
Source: Streams in the Desert
Scripture Reference: Isaiah 49:9
Source: Streams in the Desert
Scripture Reference: Isaiah 49:9
It Must Be Bought
"On all bare heights shall be their pasture"
(Isa. 49:9, RV).
Toys and trinkets are easily won, but the greatest things are greatly bought. The top-most place of power is always bought with blood. You may have the pinnacles if you have enough blood to pay. That is the conquest condition of the holy heights everywhere. The story of real heroisms is the story of sacrificial blood. The chiefest values in life and character are not blown across our way by vagrant winds. Great souls have great sorrows.
"Great truths are dearly bought, the common truths,
Such as men give and take front day to day,
Come in the common walk of easy life,
Blown by the careless wind across our way.
"Great truths are greatly won, not found by chance,
Nor wafted on the breath of summer dream;
But grasped in the great struggle of the soul,
Hard buffeting with adverse wind and stream.
"But in the day of conflict, fear and grief,
When the strong hand of God, put forth in might,
Plows up the subsoil of the stagnant heart,
And brings the imprisoned truth seed to the light.
"Wrung from the troubled spirit, in hard hours
Of weakness, solitude, perchance of pain,
Truth springs like harvest from the well-plowed field,
And the soul feels it has not wept in vain."
"The capacity for knowing God enlarges as we are brought by Him into circumstances which oblige us to exercise faith; so, when difficulties beset our path let us thank God that He is taking trouble with us, and lean hard upon Him."
It is in "these circumstances," that GOD orchestrated, that GOD does enlarge our capacity for knowing HIM and comforts us and grows us that we might be of use to HIM in reaching others for HIM. HIS Great Name has become so much greater and sweeter to me through the trials HE has engineered for me...the things i kick and scream against are the places HE has orchestrated to enlarge my capacity for knowing HIM and sharing
"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the LORD a day is like a thousand years,and a thousand years are like a day. The LORD is not slow in keeping HIS promise, as some understand slowness. HE is patient with you, not wannting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." II Peter 3:8-9
HE is teaching me the price of the best things, including men's souls, are only purchased through being willing to pay the highest price for them...through suffering. "CHRIST suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in HIS steps." I Peter 2:21 Am I willing to pay the price it takes to win others to CHRIST? Our LORD JESUS shed HIS blood on the Cross that we might be reconciled to GOD. Jim Elliot and his friends died to share CHRIST and proclaim HIS great name. Praying earnestly for the salvation of others, leaving your family and friends and going like Josh and Crystal to a foreign country to build relationships and share CHRIST and dying to self in a thousand ways daily are ways to "lay down our lives" that others might see CHRIST in us. Through waiting on HIM to answer diligent prayers for the souls of others...GOD is "guiding my heart into ever deeper understanding of GOD's love and of the patient suffering of CHRIST..." II Thess. 3:5. I am very thankful for the understanding of HIS love HE is giving me more and more, but i'm afraid i'm not too patient when it comes to the "patient suffering of CHRIST." CHRIST sure does wait on us...and is, oh, so patient with us and those we love.
This past Sunday, our choir, of which i am amazingly now an official member, sang a most beautiful song called "YOUR GREAT NAME." As i was thinking about what song to share with you this week, the LORD JESUS brought this powerful song that proclaims HIS "GREAT NAME," to my mind. I was so thankful to find it on youtube so i could share it with you:
"This song was a co-write with Michael Neale, worship leader of The People’s Church in Franklin, TN. It was inspired by a time of personal reflection about the power the name of Jesus invokes. When sung in church, the congregation can’t help but stand in awe at the great name of Jesus Christ, our Healer, King, Defender, Savior and FRIEND
"YOUR GREAT NAME"
Lost are saved, find their way
At the sound of Your great name
All condemned feel no shame
At the sound of Your great name
Every fear has no place
At the sound of Your great name
The enemy, he has to leave
At the sound of Your great name
(Chorus)
Jesus, worthy is the Lamb
that was slain for us
Son of God and man
You are high and lifted up
And all the world will praise
Your great name
All the weak find their strength
At the sound of Your great name
Hungry souls receive grace
At the sound of Your great name
The fatherless find their place
At the sound of Your great name
The sick are healed, the dead are raised
At the sound of Your great name
Chorus
Bridge Redeemer,My Healer, Lord Almighty
Sustainer, Defender, You are my King
That's exactly what happened at our church this past Sunday...as the choir sang, the congregation stood and many lifted their hands in praise at the sound of "YOUR GREAT NAME." What a most glorious song to worship our LORD JESUS and think about HIS greatness in all of our lives. HE is sovereign, HE loves us and is conducting the affairs of our world to bring about HIS plans and purposes, including the elections this week, of which i am very grateful and thankful. HE is "engineering the circumstances" in your life and mine to reveal HIS great love and name to us and use us as HIS vessels to proclaim "YOUR GREAT NAME," to those we live with, work with, and others the LORD brings into our lives each and every day.
I hope and pray this weeks email is a great encouragement to you to proclaim HIS "GREAT NAME," wherever the LORD has called you whether it's an insurance salesman, homemaker, car salesman, teacher, SS teacher, nurse, whatever...HE has put you there to proclaim "YOUR GREAT NAME!" I love you and thank you for proclaiming HIS GREAT name to me and wherever you are. Your love, your friendship, your oneness in our LORD JESUS CHRIST and your example is such a dear gift to me. I love you and thank you for sharing this time with me this week...don't forget, Samaritan's Purse Shoe boxes, another way to proclaim "YOUR GREAT NAME" and share the love of CHRIST with a child are right around the corner...http://www.
With all HIS love,
mitzi
"Unto you therefore which believe HE is precious." I Peter 2:7
"The name of the LORD is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe." Pro. 18:10
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"Likewise the SPIRIT also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the SPIRIT itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And HE that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the SPIRIT, because HE maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of GOD." Romans 8:26-27
"...We can pour out the fullness of our heart, the burden of our spirit, the sorrow that crushes us, and know that HE hears, HE loves, HE understands, HE receives; and HE separates from our prayer all that is imperfect, ignorant and wrong, and presents the rest, with the incense of the great HIGH PRIEST, before the throne on high; and our prayer is heard, accepted, and answered in HIS NAME."
- A..B. Simpson
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