"There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in HIS excellency on the sky." Deuteronomy 33:26
"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect..." Phil. 2:12
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
As i begin writing this email, my son is about to take his final, final in his quest for his Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. You can be sure this proud and thankful Mama is praying for him as i write you. You all have been a part of helping him to accomplish this goal through your love and encouragement and prayers for him and we thank GOD for you. Apart from GOD hearing and answering your prayers for him, he could do nothing. John Mac will graduate this Sat. morning at 10:00 a.m. in Spraggins Hall, on the campus of UAH. Please come and join us as we celebrate GOD's goodness and grace in his life and all of ours. To GOD be all the glory and we are so very thankful for what HE is doing in John Mac's life. Please remember John Mac in your prayers for the next season in his life as he prepares for the MCAT, the test to apply for medical school, in the spring and other decisions he will be making concerning GOD's will for his life.
Hannah Beth's birthday is this coming Tuesday...she will be 19. She entered this world 2 weeks earlier than her due date on Dec. 7, 1991, the 50th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day, and also her great Grandmother Fowler's birthday. Sure do love my Pumpkin, and will miss being away from her on her birthday for the first time in 19 years. If you want to send her a card, let me know and i'll be glad to share her address with you.
Back here in Athens, my next door neighbors, Shane and Trisha Black are getting ready for the CHRISTmas parade. Their family's CHRISTmas float has become a tradition in the Athens parade since they began building them a few years ago after Shane's Dad, Ed Black developed cancer and eventually died. Shane, and his family have been working in their garage since early summer on elves in anticipation for the parade tonight. One day this summer i was over there and Shane said, "Come here i want to show you something." I was amazed when i saw the paper mache elf in their garage...and later the elves grew in number as the months flew by. Shane's Mom and aunts, including Myra Black King, and uncles and cousins all help out with the float where they do most of their work in a barn in the Ripley Community. It's a sweet time for their family and a real blessing for all those who know them. They have won the float division of the parade every year they have entered, except one and they were runner up. With the money they receive, they use it to buy Bibles to share GOD's WORD with others, the way Shane's Daddy shared Bibles with all he met before he died.
As i drove by the courthouse early Sat. morning, they were decorating the courthouse in wreaths and bows, and greenery. The whole town will be festive tonight for the CHRISTmas parade which starts at the high school, goes down Hobbs Street in front of Athens State University and our church, First Baptist, and then wraps around the old fashioned courthouse square, and makes it way down to Jefferson St. to the old Kroger building where it ends. When i was in band, i marched in a few of those parades, playing the snare drum. It was always cold, and always exciting. When the kids were coming along, they rode on some of the floats for church and other things. Hannah Beth rode on Shane and Trisha's float one year as she helped their family with building it. You can see pictures of the CHRISTmas parade, and Shane and Trisha's float herehttp://decaturdaily.com/
The CHRISTmas parade is just one of the neat traditions in our town celebrating the birth of JESUS. Another annual event is the "Athens CHRISTmas," that the choir and orchestra at First Baptist share with the community each year. They have been working for months to memorize the music, and getting the words to sound like Br. Ryan wants them to sound and not like southern hicks. He's so funny. He really works with us on pronunciation...I think part of his cross to bear is the LORD giving him a church in the south to serve as Minister of Music. Br. Ryan is from Virginia...it's the south, but it's a whole lot further or farther up north than Alabama.
I have only been in the choir less than two months, and i'm still very much learning the ropes and the words to the music for "An Athens CHRISTmas." The first several weeks i have spent wondering if i shouldn't be sitting in the alto section, cause i sure can't sing as high as the first sopranos. Technically, i'm second soprano, but the first sopranos are all sitting behind me, and it's hard not to sing with them, except my voice won't do what theirs will. I think i've finally settled that i'm going to stick around the soprano section for awhile...it just seems to be where GOD has planted me for now.
As i shared a couple of weeks ago, being in the choir just seemed to sort of happen to me...i know GOD has a plan but i didn't know this was part of it when HE brought us back to First Baptist. I wasn't sure I could tolerate being in the choir practices due to my allergies but thankfully i have been...and i've been amazed honestly. One of the rules Br. Ryan has is that no one is allowed to wear perfume to choir....wow, that is a blessing. It's also a blessing to sing in the choir...where no one wears perfume on Sunday. Maybe GOD pulled me into the choir to protect me...HE does that. As my heart and body is finding it's way around in this new place GOD has for me, i am being blessed so much. It's very humbling to me, because i can't memorize all the words to the music and couldn't if i had a year. Thankfully, i already know some of the songs, and the words i can't remember, one of the choir members told me a trick...just mouth, "W-A-T-E-R-M-E-L-O-N." I won't say who told me that to protect the guilty, but i bet i'll try it!
Last night as we finished rehearsing for the "Athens CHRISTmas," Brother Ryan ministered to all of our hearts so very much. Br. Ryan, with his brown curly locks gently surrounding his face, looks about 20 but he's been at this a good while. He graduated from Southwestern Seminary where my husband graduated from, and served in Montgomery for a while at a church there,before the LORD brought him to Athens 6 years ago where he found his wife, Kelly Clemons Leffel and they have two precious little boys, William and Harrison. Br. Ryan is very intense and passionate, and makes you want to sing with all your heart for the LORD. He gives us these little signs to help us remember the words to the music while he's directing. He goes over the rough spots, and being in choir practice reminds me of when i used to play basketball and we ran sprints. We sprint through the music, and then he goes over the places that need work...it's very fast paced and interesting, yet at the same time, there are lots of places for laughter, and he doesn't mind getting poked fun at...and believe me those choir members sure know how to rib him.
Last night as we finished up practicing, Br. Ryan shared with us that he knew a lot of us were uptight about memorizing the music and that he would rather have an imperfect program empowered by the HOLY SPIRIT, than a perfect program without the HOLY SPIRIT empowering us. He encouraged us to do our best to prepare and learn the music, but to rely on GOD and encouraged us to have clean hands and a pure heart so that GOD could empower us and use us. He asked us to pray for "The Athens CHRISTmas," that GOD would use us to draw others to HIM, and particularly draw those who don't know CHRIST to HIM. Br. Ryan desires to bring glory to GOD and I can't tell you what a blessing his humble heart and spirit is to me. After practice, Betty Dean Newman came up to me with tears in her eyes and said, "Is he not the most precious thing?" His heart for JESUS, and desire for the choir to be used by GOD to bring the lost to CHRIST, and bring glory to JESUS touched me so much. Brother Ryan often tells us, we're not performers, we are ministers for JESUS.
I can't tell you how much his heart, which is a reflection of our dear SAVIOR's heart, means to me. Sometimes i feel "all thumbs," when i'm playing in the orchestra and loose my place, and don't ding at the right time, or miss the right place to play the suspended cymbal. But my dear SAVIOR keeps reminding me that HE picked me with all my flaws and weaknesses to be a part of HIS choir and HIS orchestra and what an honor and privilege it is for me to do that for HIM. What a privilege to be under the leadership of Br. Ryan with his heart and love for CHRIST, and to be in choir with the body of CHRIST who love HIM and minister to me and to each other and those they sing to. I wasn't in the choir long, when they were fitting me to one of the black dresses with the sequin jacket to wear for the "Athens CHRISTmas." Do i look like a sequin kind of gal? No, but GOD provided those sequins through a dear sweet gal, Jan Morris, who is no longer singing in the choir and she had a dress that fit me almost to a tee. Now i just have to get me some black shoes to complete the outfit. I was really glad when Janet Dees stood up at choir practice last night and said, "Br. Ryan, tell the new folks that they don't wear their dresses to "dress rehearsal," next week. I'm so glad she said that...i probably would have showed up in my dress at dress rehearsal...whew!
Each year at CHRISTmas, i am reminded so much of GOD sending HIS perfect SON into the world to redeem us from our sin and save from the bondage we are in and from everlasting hell. I am reminded that GOD sent HIS SON to another town, Bethlehem, where it was foretold hundreds of years before HE came to earth that HE would be born there. HIS parents, Mary impregnated by the HOLY SPIRIT, and Joseph, did not live there, but had to travel 90 miles from their home, and Mary on the back of a donkey great with child, in order to pay their taxes. It was foreordained by GOD...and GOD used these circumstances so that HIS SON would be delivered there....not in a palace as one of our songs in "The Athens CHRISTmas," sings...but in a stable...and some say it could have even been a cave. There was no room for our SAVIOR in the inn...but there was room, in the stinky place where the animals were kept. Can you imagine that...sending your perfect son to such an imperfect place to be born...to live, and to die for such imperfect people as you and I am... who have no room for HIM in the busyness of our lives, who don't love the LORD our GOD with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, people, who have false idols, who commit adultry, and fornication, who lust, who hate, who covet, who are jealous, envious, slanderous, bitter...HE died to forgive us, and make us like HIM.
You know the older i get, the more i realize the meaning of what GOD did for us...the more I am in awe at the story of JESUS coming into the world as a tiny baby and dying on a cross and being resurrected for your sins and mine. To rescue us and love us, and make us HIS heirs, and one day we will rule and reign with HIM...the KING. I am in awe of my perfect SAVIOR loving me with all my imperfections, and choosing to die for me, and empowering me with HIS resurrection power to live through me each and every day. I stand in awe of a SAVIOR who is not ashamed to call me HIS own, and lavishes HIS love upon me, and says, "Hey Mitzi, even though you're not so good at memorizing words, and reading music, I want you to be in MY choir, and MY orchestra and sing and play songs of praise to ME and for ME. I have a SAVIOR that made me perfect from my sins in my position with HIM, and yet, HE loves me in my imperfections, and works with me to make me "perfect through sufferings," no matter what form they may come to me. HE loves me, HE wants me, HE sees me as beautiful and values me and cherishes me just as I am.
This afternoon, i read these beautiful words that Charles Spurgeon wrote in today's "Morning and Evening," about how beautiful the CHURCH is to our LORD JESUS.
"Thou art all fair, my love."
--Song of Solomon 4:7
The Lord's admiration of His Church is very a wonderful, and His description of her beauty is very glowing. She is not merely fair, but "all fair." He views her in Himself, washed in His sin-atoning blood and clothed in His meritorious righteousness, and He considers her to be full of comeliness and beauty. No wonder that such is the case, since it is but His own perfect excellency that He admires; for the holiness, glory, and perfection of His Church are His own glorious garments on the back of His own well-beloved spouse. She is not simply pure, or well-proportioned; she is positively lovely and fair! She has actual merit! Her deformities of sin are removed; but more, she has through her Lord obtained a meritorious righteousness by which an actual beauty is conferred upon her.
Believers have a positive righteousness given to them when they become "accepted in the beloved" (Eph. 1:6). Nor is the Church barely lovely, she is superlatively so. Her Lord styles her "Thou fairest among women." She has a real worth and excellence which cannot be rivalled by all the nobility and royalty of the world. If Jesus could exchange His elect bride for all the queens and empresses of earth, or even for the angels in heaven, He would not, for He puts her first and foremost--"fairest among women." Like the moon she far outshines the stars. Nor is this an opinion which He is ashamed of, for He invites all men to hear it. He sets a "behold" before it, a special note of exclamation, inviting and arresting attention. "Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair" (Song of Sol. 4:1). His opinion He publishes abroad even now, and one day from the throne of His glory He will avow the truth of it before the assembled universe. "Come, ye blessed of my Father" (Mat t. 25:34), will be His solemn affirmation of the loveliness of His elect.
"For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only SON that whosoever believes in HIM should not perish but have everlastinglife." John 3:16
Once we are HIS, HE delights in being strong in our weakness that HE may display HIS glory through our humanness and imperfections. Oswald Chambers shares that GOD doesn't want us to be perfect. HE wants to have a personal relationship with each one of us that HE might display HIS glory through our imperfect lives and cause others to yearn for HIM.
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfect . . . —Philippians 3:12
It is a trap to presume that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do— God’s purpose is to make us one with Himself. The emphasis of holiness movements tends to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum. If you accept this concept of personal holiness, your life’s determined purpose will not be for God, but for what you call the evidence of God in your life. How can we say, “It could never be God’s will for me to be sick”? If it was God’s will to bruise His own Son (Isaiah 53:10), why shouldn’t He bruise you? What shines forth and reveals God in your life is not your relative consistency to an idea of what a saint should be, but your genuine, living relationship with Jesus Christ, and your unrestrained devotion to Him whether you are well or sick.
Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship with God that shows itself to be true even amid the seemingly unimportant aspects of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that hits you is the pointlessness of the things you have to do. The next thought that strikes you is that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives. Such lives may leave you with the idea that God is unnecessary— that through your own human effort and devotion you can attain God’s standard for your life. In a fallen world this can never be done. I am called to live in such a perfect relationship with God that my life produces a yearning for God in the lives of others, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God’s purpose is not to perfect me to make me a trophy in His showcase; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He wants.
"MY grace is sufficient for you, for MY power (dynamo=dynamite) is made perfect in weakness." II Cor. 12:9-10.
HE doesn't call me to perfection, HE calls me to live in a personal and intimate relationship with HIM and HE will take care of the rest to draw all men to HIM through my life in the place HE can use me. I never dreamed that would be the choir at FBC, Athens.
I received an email from Br. Ryan, our Minister of Music this afternoon. He had mistakenly ran off the wrong song for Sunday in case we had picked it up off the stand in the orchestra to practice it. He told us in the email he ran off the right song and put it in our folders. I appreciated so much him telling us that, and it just made me love and appreciate that humble man even more...and our pastor is like that too. They are not afraid to show their weaknesses, their mistakes...because they know that somehow CHRIST is going to be strong in the midst of them...they are not perfect, but CHRIST is powerful through their imperfect lives that love HIM and faithfully serve HIM. Sure does make me feel better about messing up and frees me up to be honest about my weaknesses, that CHRIST's power may rest upon me. "Therefore i will most gladly boast about my infirmities, that the power of CHRIST may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for CHRIST's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong." II Cor. 12:10
I love this quote i read by Hannah Hurnard this week from her book, Kingdom of Love:
"All that happens to us (even the results of our own folly, stupidity and sin, as well as the results of the follies, stupidities and sins of others), all constitute a GOD-permitted opportunity to bring good out of evil."
"We know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love GOD." Romans 8:28
And then this one from Oswald Chambers:
"To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of An Agony
Wow...i don't know about you, but i'm feeling mighty loved right now as i ponder what a SAVIOR, what a BRIDEGROOM, what a LOVER of our SOULS, what a future that is ours that are in CHRIST JESUS!
One of the songs we will be singing in "An Athens CHRISTmas is the "Hallelujah Chorus." A few weeks ago, someone shared on FB the video of the Hallelujah Chorus being sung in a mall. When i watched that video, I was amazed to watch the people's faces, and the response the people had the Hallelujah Chorus...you just can't help but join in that beautiful song of praise to our KING, to our Redeemer, to the ONE WHO poured out HIS life for you and me and is one day going to come back to earth, defeat all HIS enemies, and "every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess, that JESUS CHRIST is LORD." As i read my Bible and realize there are hundreds of prophecies about JESUS that HE has already fulfilled, including HIM coming to earth, being born to a virgin, being born in Bethlehem, and being wounded for our transgressions," it gives me complete confidence in the TRUTH of GOD's WORD. HE indeed is working the circumstances out in our lives, and our world to the end that the Bible tells us...HE is the KING of KINGS and LORD of LORDS. HE is so worthy of all our praise, and love and obedience, to live our lives sharing with others what CHRIST has done for us on the cross that they too, might believe in HIM and receive HIM as their LORD and SAVIOR.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
So many things to rejoice about and share about the love that my SAVIOR lavishes upon me. You are one of my greatest blessings to rejoice in and how thankful and honored i am that you would spend your precious time reading this email. Thank you so very much. If you can, come join us to celebrate John Mac's graduation Saturday..."GREAT is THY Faithfulness." Please join us next weekend, Nov. 11 and 12 at First Baptist Church for "An Athens CHRISTmas." It starts at 7:00 p.m. each night. It won't be perfect, but it will be powerful, and JESUS will be lifted up and strong in our weakness! Come and bring someone who doesn't know CHRIST...i look forward to seeing you there just don't watch me too closely or you might find i'm singing W-A-T-E-R-M-E-L-O-N!
With all HIS love,
mitzi
P.S. My friend Wanda just called, and told me Shane and his family's float won Grand Prize again this year at the parade...praise the LORD!!!!
Please remember in your prayers:
- Shirley Wenzell-she began radiation this week. Her daughter Mishel is here helping her Mom. Mishel is a newlywed...and left her husband and family in Nebraska to come help her Mom.
- Joan Jenkins-our pastor's wife, recovering from surgery.
- "The Athens CHRISTmas" that CHRIST would empower us to lift HIM up and all would be drawn to HIM that come and worship.
- For each of us, that we would be "Living Sanctuaries," "pure and holy, tried and true," and sensitive to the opportunities CHRIST gives us to share HIM with the lost this season and every day.
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most HIGH shall abide under the shadow of the ALMIGHTY." Psalm 91:1
"When we live in the secret place of prayer it becomes impossible for us to doubt GOD. We become more sure of HIM than of anything else."
-Oswald Chambers
I say again to loving spirits who are seeking the good of others, let this encourage you. You may not have to wait long for the conversions you aim at; it may be ere another Sabbath ends, the person you pray for may be brought to Jesus; or if you have to wait a little, the waiting shall well repay you, and meanwhile remember HE has never spoken in secret in the dark places of the earth; HE has not said to the seed of Jacob, “Seek ye MY face in vain.”
-C. H. Spurgeon, "Carried by Four" , March 19, 1871
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