Friday, June 24, 2011

"Praise YOU in This Storm": Relearning the Lessons

"When Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to JESUS.  But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, "LORD, save me." Matt. 14:29-30

   Dear Praying Friends and Family,
            It's a cozy afternoon here in Alabama, as I sit on the front porch in our white rocking chair while Troy, our Maltipoo, nestles down on the concrete in front of me.  In the distance, the thunder rolls, as we are in between thunderstorms.  Severe storms are predicted for later on this evening...
  •     I sure want to ask you to pray for my father in law, Buddy Evans, and my mother in law Bobbie Evans who are in the midst of a big storm in their lives. "Pop" as we call my daddy in law has been having many strokes for several weeks now...today he had a big one.  I just returned from over there and the doctor says he has pneumonia, which may have exacerbated the stroke symptoms. He did laugh once while I was there, and he held my hand tightly as he lay in bed.
     
           Lately, I feel like I've had some thunderstorms of my own going on lately with my health issues, and starting back to school.  I sure do appreciate your prayers.  GOD is answering your prayers for me and this week has been much better.  I've been  in a routine with my school work, and except for a "minor meltdown" yesterday when I couldn't get the lecture to play on my computer, my math studies have gone pretty well this week.  Haven't heard how I did on my first test, but I sure think I passed it...sure hope I did:).  John Mac has been a huge help to me, and I am very thankful that GOD left him home this summer to help his old Ma with her math.  It's funny when I was homeschooling them, i never thought about them helping me with my schoolwork.  I sure wasn't too good at helping them when they got into the upper levels.
    I had some trials with my IV earlier in the week, but the LORD has turned those into a blessing.   My doctor suggested I might be allergic to my thyroid medicine and sure enough I was...I had an allergy treatment on it this week, and today for the first time in a while, I was able to take it without feeling anxious, jittery, and a thousand other ways it seems I've felt over the past several weeks.  I  have had more than one thing going on with my health issues, but I am so thankful that for now, there seems to be a break in the storms...like there is in the thunderstorms in our weather this afternoon.

      I will have to admit, I have had a difficult time praising the LORD in the midst of my storms lately. I have pretty much grumbled and complained my way through these difficult days. CHRIST gently reminded me earlier this week  from a devotion  to thank HIM for the trials HE has allowed in my life recently...HE knows what HE is about and the plans and purposes that HE has for the trials HE allows into your life and mine.

From JESUS Calling  by Sarah Young:
     Thank ME for the very things that are troubling you.  You are on the brink of rebellion, precariously close to sharing your fist in MY face.  You are tempted to indulge in just a little complaining about my treatment of you.  But once you step over that line, torrents of rage and self-pity can sweep you away.  The best protection against this indulgence is thanksgiving.  It is impossible to thank ME and curse ME at the same time.
     Thanking ME for trials will feel awkward and contrived at first.  But if you persist, your thankful words, prayed in faith, will eventually make a difference in your heart.  Thankfulness awakens you to MY PRESENCE, which overshadows all your problems."

From J.C. Ryle:


Expecting the Trials of Life

Trials, we must distinctly understand, are a part of the diet which all true Christians must expect. It is one of the means by which their grace is proved, and by which they find out what there is in themselves. Winter as well as summer–cold as well as heat–clouds as well as sunshine–are all necessary to bring the fruit of the Spirit to ripeness and maturity. We do not naturally like this. We would rather cross the lake with calm weather and favorable winds, with Christ always by our side, and the sun shining down on our faces. But it may not be. It is not in this way that God’s children are made “partakers of His holiness.” (Heb. 12:10). Abraham, and Jacob, and Moses, and David, and Job were all men of many trials. Let us be content to walk in their footsteps, and to drink of their cup. In our darkest hours we may seem to be left–but we are never really alone.



Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John, volume 1, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1987], 338,339. {John 6:15-21



17 "I will sacrifice a thank offering to YOU and call on the name of the LORD." Psalm 116:17

 4 "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."Philippians 4:4-6


    I'll be honest, there hasn't been a whole lot of rejoicing from my heart lately...guess I got a little wake up call in my faith when the waves get rough.  I'm like Peter when he cried out in the verse above: "LORD, save me!"   And HE indeed is doing that and is faithful to deliver us through the storms of our lives whatever they may be.

  •         Please pray for my friends Arthur and Darlene Anderson.  They will be leaving tomorrow for the Bursinski Clinic in Texas to have a consult about treatment for her breast cancer on Monday morning.  Please be in prayer for them as they seek the LORD's wisdom and will for their lives.


   "Manna" from heaven this week, the LORD has blessed me with to encourage my weary heart includes:

"You indeed see the rain, but do you also see the flowers?  You are pained by the testings. But GOD sees the sweet flower of faith which is upspringing in your life under those very trials.  You shrink from the suffering.  But GOD sees the tender compassion for other sufferers which is finding birth in your soul." Streams in the Desert
  

"GOD says, "Lift up the hands that hang down."  March straight through the flood, and lo, the waters will divide the Red Sea will open, the Jordan will part and the LORD will lead you through to victory." A. B. Simpson, Streams in the Desert,  June 18

"Pay as little attention to discouragement as possible.  Plough ahead as a steamer does, rough or smooth-rain or shine.  To carry your cargo and make your port is the point."  M. Babcock

12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,”[a] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed." Hebrews 12:12-13


"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; HIS mercies never end; they are new every morning; great is YOUR faithfulness."  Lamentations 3:22-23

"People Panic-GOD Provides" Chuck Swindoll

"I will answer them before they even call to ME."  While they are still talking to me about their needs.  I will go ahead and answer their prayers." Is. 65:24

"The LORD JESUS is able in such times of crisis, to overcome our natural fears and give such a glorious realization of HIS presence that everything else is swallowed up."  

"So we say with confidence, "The LORD is my HELPER, I will not be afraid." Heb. 13:6

"Whenever one of GOD's children was fearful to step out alone, GOD's simple response was, "I will be with you." Nancy Leigh DeMoss,www.reviveourhearts.com

"For if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of GOD-you cannot overthrow it-lest you even be found to fight against GOD."  Acts 5:38

"HE died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for HIM who for their sake died and was raised." II Cor. 5:15

From Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening:

Morning: The Material of Christ's Temple
"He shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory."
--Zechariah 6:13
Christ Himself is the builder of His spiritual temple, and He has built it on the mountains of His unchangeable affection, His omnipotent grace, and His infallible truthfulness. But as it was in Solomon's temple, so in this; the materials need making ready. There are the "Cedars of Lebanon," but they are not framed for the building; they are not cut down, and shaped, and made into those planks of cedar, whose odoriferous beauty shall make glad the courts of the Lord's house in Paradise. There are also the rough stones still in the quarry, they must be hewn thence, and squared. All this is Christ's own work. Each individual believer is being prepared, and polished, and made ready for his place in the temple; but Christ's own hand performs the preparation-work. Afflictions cannot sanctify, excepting as they are used by Him to this end. Our prayers and efforts cannot make us ready for heaven, apart from the hand of Jesus, who fashioneth our hearts aright.
As in the building of Solomon's temple, "there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house," because all was brought perfectly ready for the exact spot it was to occupy--so is it with the temple which Jesus builds; the making ready is all done on earth. When we reach heaven, there will be no sanctifying us there, no squaring us with affliction, no planing us with suffering. No, we must be made meet here--all that Christ will do beforehand; and when He has done it, we shall be ferried by a loving hand across the stream of death, and brought to the heavenly Jerusalem, to abide as eternal pillars in the temple of our Lord.
"Beneath His eye and care,
The edifice shall rise,
Majestic, strong, and fair,
And shine above the skies."

   This morning, Hannah Beth and my niece Corinne were sitting at our table eating pancakes while Hannah Beth led us in our Friday morning Bible study we're doing together this summer.  It was about Hannah, Samuel's Mother, learning to accept and praise GOD in the midst of her trials as she was waiting for the LORD to open her womb and give her a baby.  I had done this Bible study  as a young Mom many years ago with health struggles.   Now as an older Mom who still struggles with her health but has come a long way, I can look back and see how very much our whole family has been enriched through the trials the LORD has allowed in our lives. Hannah could never have dreamed the wonderful plans that GOD had to bless her with a son, and not only use Samuel to be a blessing to Hannah's family but to the whole nation of Israel. But first, Hannah as you and me do had to learn to "delight in the LORD," in the midst of her affliction of not being able to have children. She poured out her heart to GOD, in her anguish, and GOD brought peace and acceptance to her.  As a result she was able to praise the LORD even though her situation had not changed, but it soon did.  Hannah learned to Praise GOD in the midst of the storm, not wait until it was over.  GOD blessed her with baby Samuel, the child she had asked for and several other children after that. In acceptance lieth peace, is what Elisabeth Elliot used to say over and over on her radio show that fed me daily while the kids did their school work.  GOD's exortation to each one of us, "Delight yourself in the LORD, and HE will give you the desires of your heart." Ps. 37:4. 
     I think about my doctors who have helped me so much...each and every one of them has suffered greatly with health issues, and through their afflictions GOD has enriched them to be a mighty helper and bring HIS healing power to others.  We never know all the people and all the lives that GOD is going to reach through the trials that HE has engineered and perfectly designed to accomplish HIS overall plan and purposes to rescue the perishing and care for the dying, and to prepare us to reign in HIS temple one day for all eternity.
      Just a few minutes ago, I was looking on FB to find the name of a young man I wanted to ask you to pray for...Elliot Malone.  Elliot is 22 years old, just a tad older than my son, John Mac.  Earlier this week he was in a very bad car accident and almost lost his life.  He did loose his leg, and has several internal injuries.  Elliot's Daddy and I played the drums together in junior high at Tanner, and I graduated with his aunt Cindy.   His granddaddy, Ray McElhaney, pastored First Baptist Tanner for many, many years, and now he and his wife attend First Baptist Church in Athens where we go.  While I was on FB, at "Prayers for Elliot"...I saw this song called "Blessings," that Elliot's sister had posted.  It has so much depth and meaning about what GOD is doing in the midst of our "dark nights of the soul," and is very encouraging.  I pray that it will bless you as you take time listen to it, and remember like me, how very much the LORD loves us and HE has a very special design to bless us with the trials that HE allows in your life and mine.
"Blessings" by Laura Story

   I can't write this email about learning to praise HIM, or should I say, relearning to Praise HIM in the storms, without sharing "Casting Crowns" great song, "I Will Praise You in This Storm." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHdcyue0bSw .I remember the first time this song sank in the depths of my soul, I was going through a most difficult time with my health... the LORD led me to kneel down in front of the couch in the apartment I was staying in Texas where I was there for medical care.  I  reached my hands to heaven, and praised  HIM in faith in the midst of the storm that I was facing with my health then.  

   I sure am not an "A" student about Praising HIM in the storms yet.  In fact, I pretty much got an "F" these past few weeks in the school of trials...but my TEACHER is very loving and patient, and has once again reminded me to Praise HIM in the Storms.  HE loves you and me so very much that"HE gave HIS only begotten SON that whosoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.  If HE provided our greater need of saving us from our sins, HE has promised to provide all our needs in CHRIST JESUS and HE is so very faithful to do that for each one of us.

    Many of you are going through much greater trials than I have mentioned going on in my life.  I pray the LORD will use these verses, these songs, these words of encouragement to lead you, like Hannah, to Praise HIM in the midst of your storms, instead of waiting until you are through them.  "HE is the ROCK, HIS works are perfect and all HIS ways are just.  A faithful GOD who does no wrong, upright and just is HE." Deut. 27:4

   You are such a dear blessing to me...thank you for your faithful prayers, your words of encouragement, and for sharing your burdens with me.  I am honored to pray for you and for what concerns you. Keep UP the prayers...and thank you for praying for me, and my loved ones...GOD is listening and HE is answering.   You know what?...the severe storms predicted seemed to have gone to the south of us...GOD knows what HE's about.   HE is the Master of the boisterous winds in our lives,  and HE knows when to let them blow upon us, and when to bring calm...HE loves us so very much.  "Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.  For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the LORD." Psalm 116:8-9

                                                                                                                                With all HIS love,
                                                                                                                                  mitzi

  "It is nothing short of a transformed vision of reality that is able to see CHRIST as more real than the storm, love more real than hatred, meekness more real than pride, long-suffering more real than annoyance, holiness more real than sin."  Elisabeth Elliot, www.elisabethelliot.org   
    

-- 
"Men ought always to pray and not to faint." Luke 18:11

"All GOD's giants have been weak men who did great things for GOD because they reckoned on HIS being with them." J. Hudson Taylor


Friday, June 17, 2011

"Tougher Shoes"

"...and the rest should follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship.  And thus it happened that they all were brought safely to land." Acts 27:44


Dear Praying Friends and Family, 
      I took my first precalculus test just a few hours ago, here at home, and I think the LORD helped me to do pretty well on it.  I can't thank you enough for your love and encouragement and prayers you have shared with me these past few weeks to help me to keep going when I wanted to give up.  In fact, I woke up during the night Sat. night with yet another allergic reaction, and I decided, I'm quitting, I can't continue trying to study with all this going on, and I will never be able to pass the test with all the information I had to learn and with all the trouble I was having concentrating.  Well, i went to Sunday School, announcing that I was withdrawing from the class. When I shared that with Dr. Betty Dean Newman in the choir robe room, she looked at me, raised her chin and said, "Are you sure that's what the LORD wants you to do?"  I was sure at 3:00 a.m in the morning when I couldn't sleep and told Johnny my plans.  After church, I walked over to Betty  Dean's car and she told me about her own journey getting her doctorate and the obstacles that she had overcome with her own health issues, and her husband's too, and the three statistics classes she had to have.  She prayed with me that the LORD would give me "tougher shoes," and help me to endure if this is indeed the path HE has for me.  So, I went home, told Johnny I might stay in the class, and he said, "I knew you would change your mind."  Later on I talked to my friend Wanda, and for everything I go through in my life, she has a story of her own to encourage me...she is GOD's personal "encouragement" to me for everything it seems.   She encouraged me to stay with it, Hannah Beth did, and even John Mac said he thought I could pass it.   As I was writing, it just dawned on me another part of GOD's grace,  "I just happened to be down at Calhoun trying to get changed back into Mrs. Crouse's class, after changing into the online course, and she gave me the pretest then."  Wow, what a difference that made...I am so thankful the LORD led me to go down there last Thursday through another "storm" going on inside me, and get me back in her class, and get me the pretest the same day.  Tuesday, the LORD provided a friend from church who teaches math at East Limestone, one of our local county schools, to come and help me work through the pretest.  When I finally got the courage to look at it, Monday evening, I discovered I couldn't even do the first problem by myself!  So I was so grateful Laura was available Tuesday and helped me worked through the test.  She was great and explained it just the way I needed her to.  John Mac told me the real test would be very similar, so after we worked through it, I felt so much better.  GOD really encouraged me.  I had yet another allergic reaction to work through, and felt really weak Wed, but the LORD helped me to study in spite of it...HE gave me "tougher shoes."  Betty Dean's words have just kept ringing in my ears this week to help me through the difficult times and I shared them with Hannah Beth when she was overwhelmed with her schooling.  She found out today that she made 102 on her test this morning, and we rejoice in GOD helping the both of us.  

Charles Spurgeon - How Precious Is Jesus!

Bentley | June 16, 2011 at 6:00 am | Tags: Charles SpurgeonThe Saint and His Savior | Categories: Charles SpurgeonSin | URL: http://wp.me/p1uloG-8R


But when self-confidence is removed — when the soul is stripped by conviction — when the light of the spirit reveals the loathsome state of the heart — when the power of the creature fades, how precious is Jesus! As the drowning mariner clutches the floating’ spar — as the dying man looks to some great physician — as the criminal values his pardon, so do we then esteem the deliverer of our souls as the Prince of the kings of the earth.

~Charles Spurgeon~


The Saint and His Savior - http://grace-ebooks.com. ebook. p. 13.




    We also found out yesterday, (this is early Friday morning that i am writing now), that GOD gave Hannah Beth, $5000.00 more dollars in scholarship money in addition to what she was already receiving for the upcoming school year.  I can't tell you what a blessing that was to us and we rejoice in GOD's goodness and help to our family.   Because of GOD providing so very generously for Hannah Beth's education, it enables us to have money to be able to pay for me to return to school, thus providing for me at the same time.  We praise GOD from WHOM all blessings flow.

     I just finished reading the quote below about CHRIST being "mighty to save."  My heart is overflowing with thinking of all the ways HE has worked to save me through the first three weeks of school and provide all my needs in CHRIST JESUS.   The verse I used above out of Acts was when Paul was on the boat sailing to Rome I think, and the boat was shipwrecked and GOD delivered Paul and the rest of the crew safely floating on logs and all to the shores of Malta.  I have felt like that with my class, that CHRIST has been "mighty to save," me through all the adversity I have faced the first few weeks, and HE has used so many to do that, including you through your prayers on my behalf.  Thank you so much!!!



Other Spurgeon Quotes
   


The Power of Christ Towards His People

Erik | June 17, 2011 at 12:00 am | Categories: Christ | URL: http://wp.me/pB3Oo-20w

It is a blessed and comfortable thought, that all this almighty power of our Lord Jesus Christ is engaged on behalf of His believing people. He has undertaken to save every one of them to the uttermost, and He is "mighty to save." The trials of His people are often many and great. The devil never ceases to make war against them. The rulers of this world frequently persecute them. The very heads of the Church, who ought to be tender shepherds, are often bitterly opposed to the truth as it is in Jesus. Yet, notwithstanding all this, Christ's people shall never be entirely forsaken. Though severely harassed, they shall not be destroyed. Though cast down, they shall not be cast away. At the darkest time let true Christians rest in the thought, that greater is He who is for them than all those who are against them.
~ J.C. Ryle
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 1, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 264. {Luke 8:22-25}
     I wanted to include a few more verses and quotes the LORD used to encourage me to endure in my Quiet Times with HIM this week, and I pray that HE will use them to encourage and strengthen your hearts in the places HE has you trusting HIM.  HE is "mighty to save," and HE will give us the "tougher shoes," we need to walk the difficult places HE has for us.
     "If you will give GOD your right to yourself, HE will make a holy experiment out of you.  GOD's experiments always succeed...The saint realizes that it is GOD who engineers circumstances so their is no whine, but a reckless abandon to JESUS..." Oswald Chambers
     "He shall feed HIS flock like a shepherd:  HE shall gather the lambs with HIS arm, and carry them in HIS bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." Is. 40:11
    "GOD's WORD says, "Before you can get close to GOD, you have to find the highway of lowliness." Nancy Leigh DeMoss
   "Draw near to GOD and HE will draw near to you...Humble yourselves in the sight of the LORD and HE will lift you up." James 4:8-10
   "He that believeth on me,the works that I do shall HE do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my FATHER." John  14:12
     "GOD has ventured all in JESUS CHRIST to save us, now HE wants us to venture our all in abandoned confidence in HIM. " Oswald Chambers

    "It has taken me a good many years to realize that in the school of faith; what I am required to do I am enable to do.  Provision has been made.  I am not alone and there is nothing to fear." Elisabeth Elliot, www.elisabethelliot.org
     "GOD is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it." I Cor. 10:13

   Is thy GOD...able?" Daniel 6:20
"Believe ye, that I am able to do this?" Yes LORD...
     "Strengthen yourself in the Omnipotence of GOD.  Do not say, "Is GOD able?"  Say rather, "GOD IS ABLE." - Andrew Murray     
    "Endure with faith and courage through the frost and you will see a glorious spring." Springs in the Valley
     "GOD is the MASTER ENGINEER.  HE allows the difficulties to come in order to see if you can vault over them properly.  GOD will never shield you from any of the requirements of a son or daughter of HIS."  Oswald Chalmbers
   "It is the path of HIS appointment that we shall find HIS presence." Springs in the Valley, June 14.
     "When my heart was embittered, and I was pierced within,
                   then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before Thee.
                   Nevertheless I am continually with Thee;
                   Thou has taken hold of my right hand.
                   With THY counsel THOU wilt guide me,
                   And afterward receive me to glory.
                   WHOM have I in heaven but THEE?
                   And besides THEE, I desire nothing on earth.
                   My flesh and my heart may fail,
                   But GOD is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
                                                  -Psalm 73:21-26

     I used the song last week "Thou, O LORD," based on Psalm 3:3 sung by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, and I feel led to use it again this week, using a different video.

 I hope that you will take time to watch and be encouraged in our LORD who is our glory and lifter and of our head. "Thou, O LORD, art a shield for me, my glory and the lifter of my head." Psalm 3:3.  Indeed, HE is the glory and lifter of your head and mine,  HE is "mighty to save," and gives "tougher shoes," for us to climb the hills and mountains of difficulty that HE has for us.  For all those who have trusted in CHRIST JESUS as their LORD and SAVIOR, HE is all this and more....to those who reject the great gift of salvation found in CHRIST alone there awaits a great judgement.  



The Reality of Your Eternal Portion

Erik | June 15, 2011 at 12:00 am | Categories: End TimesJudgment | URL: http://wp.me/pB3Oo-22q
Resurrection and judgment await you. All is not over when the last breath is drawn and your body becomes a lump of cold clay. No: all is not over! The realities of existence then begin. The shadows will have passed away for ever. The trumpet shall one day sound, and call you forth from your narrow bed; the graves shall be rent asunder, and their tenants shall be summoned forth to meet God; the ears that would not obey the church going bell shall be obliged to obey that summons; the proud wills that would not submit to listen to sermons shall be compelled to listen to the judgment of God. The great white throne shall be set: the books shall be opened. Every man, woman and child, shall be arraigned at that great court appearance. Every one shall be judged according to his works. The sins of every one shall be answered for. And every one shall receive his eternal portion either in heaven or in hell!
~ J.C. Ryle
     My heart's desire, GOD's hearts desire is that you will humble yourselves, repent of your sins, and come to HIM as your LORD and SAVIOR this day.  "The LORD is not slow about HIS promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9

    Thank you all again so much for your prayers for for me, for my family.  GOD is at work around here doing some "construction," as HE is in your life and your family and your loved ones.  What a joy to hear from you last week, and i appreciate so much your encouragement to me.  Happy Father's Day to all of you, and I am so very blessed to have my Daddy who is 84 and been such a dear and wonderful and faithful Daddy all of my life to me and my three brothers and sister and our families.Thank you, JESUS for my Daddy, WHO has shown me so very much of YOUR great love to me...and to our family.  I am so blessed that Daddy is still here with us in good health, and look forward to spending time with him today and this weekend.  I thank GOD for my wonderful Daddy in law, too, who has shown me and my family the love of JESUS over and over through the years.  Happy FATHER's Day to you both.
    I love you and thank GOD for you all...keep up with the prayers. I still have a long way to go to get through Precalculus. I need  your prayers for me to have "tougher shoes," to endure the hills and mountains that lie ahead..."but THOU, O LORD, art a shield for me, my glory and the lifter of the my head."
                                                                      With all HIS love,
                                                                                         mitzi

    

--

"All GOD's giants have been weak men who did great things for GOD because they reckoned on HIS being with them." J. Hudson Taylor

"With men this is impossible, but with GOD all things are possible." Matt. 19:26

Friday, June 10, 2011

"The Journey is Too Great for Thee"

"And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life...he himself went...into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die...And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, "Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you." I Kings 19:3,4,7

   Dear Praying Friends and Family,
            "It's me, it's me, it's me, Oh LORD, standing in the need of prayer..."  I have been painfully reminded this week, that "the journey is too great for me," and I would ask you my dear prayer warriors to please pray for me.  Since I started this Precalculus class, I have had numerous trials to discourage me from continuing the journey.    I have gone from the class to online back to the class again, except I won't actually be in class, I'll be at  home...so yes, the journey is too great for me.  I am asking for you to pray for me diligently.  GOD has blessed me with the most kind teacher who is willing to let me work at home, give extra credit for scratch paper work, homework, and will give partial credit on tests which I will need.  My first test is coming up next Thursday, and I have miles to go in my studying so i'm counting on you to remember me.
     GOD has encouraged me incredibly along the way, through the battles with allergic reactions, running out of "gas" and having to wait several days to get another IV, switching classes -the online teacher wasn't willing to accept my homework I had already done online and spent hours and hours doing and didn't give partial credit.  Our pastor preached on spiritual warfare this past Sunday and I feel that I have been in the midst of it. If GOD has called me to this journey, the devil is doing all he can to discourage me.
     I wanted to share with you this mornings devotion from Springs in the Valley the LORD used to encourage and strengthen me:

     "The LORD thy GOD shall bless thee in all that thou doest." Deut. 15:18

     Art thou suddenly called to occupy a difficult position full of responsibilities?  Go forward, counting on ME!  I am giving thee the position full of difficulties for the reason that JEHOVAH thy GOD will bless thee in all thy works, and in all the business of thy hands.
       This day I place in my hands a pot of holy oil.  Draw from it freely, MY child, that all the circumstances arising along thy pathway, each word that gives thee pain, each manifestation of thy feebleness, each interruption trying to thy patience, may be anointed with this oil.
                               
                                          Interruptions are Divine instructions.

     The sting will go in the measure in which thou seest ME in all things.

    Set your heart unto all the words which I testify among you this day...because it is your life."  Deut. 32:46,47

     "I will now turn aside, and see this great sight."
     Our FATHER is always trying to get us to the place of spiritual discoveries.  GOD is not interested in getting mere information into our souls:  HE wants us to have a revelation of HIMself.  GOD has challenging futures for us, and will go to miracle lengths to get us to pay attention.  If GOD calls me from ease and idleness, it will be that HIS undergirdings are sufficient for a great service.  "I will turn aside," for it is GOD who calls me.
     As "my expectations is from HIM" I will listen today.

    How thankful I am for a kind and loving husband who has encouraged me greatly this week, one day just holding me while I cried a few tears over the frustration I was feeling.  I am thankful for my daughter who needs your prayers too as she is taking two anatomy classes and has her cup full.  I am thankful for my son who is able to help me with my math when I get stuck...and a family who is picking up the pieces, helping around the house folding clothes, grocery shopping while mom is studying.  I am torn about the things I'm leaving undone around the house, and wonder LORD do YOU really want me doing this?  
     Pray for me, and my family, and thank you for remembering my friend Darlene in your prayers as she and Arthur seek the LORD's wisdom for her cancer battle.  Darlene has ministered and encouraged my heart so much this week, in the midst of her  own suffering.  Pray for the doctor's,  who are trying to help her and ask the LORD to give them wisdom.  Pray the things she is doing to build up and heal her body will indeed do that.  Pray for the LORD to encourage Arthur and Darlene.

     A team from our church left to go and minister in Peru this morning with Josh and Crystal Murphree, www.murphsonmission.com, our missionaries over there.  Please pray for them and all the LORD is going to accomplish through them.  I think, once the plane lands, it's still a day or so riding on the bus to get to the place where Josh and Crystal live.

    Just a few more thoughts from this weeks devotions that have encouraged my heart including these words from Scripture and Streams in the Desert:
     "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love GOD." Romans 8:28  ...including allergic reactions that are baffling me, changing in and out of classes, adjusting to studying and juggling home life.  Please pray for wisdom what i am reacting to that is making me feel jittery and discouraged and panicky feeling.

     "In one thousand trials it is not five hundred of them that work for the believer's good, but nine hundred and ninety of them, and  one beside."  George Mueller

   "GOD has an assignment for a believer.  We may feel overwhelmed, but we can be sure our sovereign LORD who calls us to serve HIM also equips us for the task." 

   "You did not choose ME, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever YOU ask the FATHER in MY name HE may give you." John 15:16

   "HE delivers magnificiently, and showeth lovingkindness." Psalm 18:50

     HE calmeth the storm to a whisper." Psalm 107:29

    "For YOU are my hope, O LORD GOD;
     YOU are my trust from my youth.
     By YOU I have been upheld from birth.
     YOU are HE who took me out of my mother's womb.
     My praise shall be continually of YOU.
     YOU are my strong refuge.
     Let my mouth be filled with YOUR praise
     And with YOUR glory all the day." Psalm 71:5-8


   "You can be assured that the GOD who organizes and orchestrates and harmonizes all the world knows exactly what you need for the job HE wants you to do." Elisabeth Elliot

     "Blessed is the man whose strength is in you."Psalm 84:5

   "I am here," said Much-Afraid, still kneeling at His feet," and I will go with YOU  with anywhere."  Hannah Hurnard, "Hinds Feet on High Places

     "Commit your way to the LORD, trust in HIM and HE will do this:  HE will make YOUR righteousness shine like the dawn." Psalm 37: 5-6

    I am "Much Afraid," these days, and I know the LORD tells me not to fear.  HE has brought me through everything in the past and HE will bring me through this too.  Just pray for me..and our family.  A lot is going on with us including HB found out today she got accepted into the nursing program at the University of Mobile...she has worked really hard and I am really proud and thankful for GOD giving her the discipline and all to study so hard. Please pray for my baby girl who is taking two anatomy's this summer to be able to get into the nursing program.  

   The LORD has been using, the song, "Thou, O LORD," to lift my head this week...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y284YvkYrZo .  HE is our shield and our glory and the lifter of our heads when I am discouraged and trodden down:

  "For thou O LORD, are a shield for me, my glory and the lifter of my head." Ps. 3:3

    HE loves us so very much that HE sent HIS one and only beloved SON to die for your sins and mine...and HE promises to those who receive HIM as their LORD and SAVIOR, and come to HIM humbly confessing our sins against HIM, that HE will give us eternal life and we will be HIS children for ever and ever.  

  But as many as received HIM, to them HE gave the right to become the children of GOD." John 1:12

   "Behold what manner of love the FATHER hath given unto us that we should be called the sons of GOD." I John 3:1

‎"As GOD's CHILDREN, we are HIS dependents. Dependent children...assume-and they have the right to-that their parents will PROVIDE EVERYTHING they need." Billy Graham

   Well, my FATHER is providing everything I need, piece by piece...including your prayers most of all.  Thank you, so much.  GOD is good, and GOD is faithful all the time...even when HIS ways seems strange to us, and are painful...HE knows what HE is doing in and through our trials, in ALL of them.  Yesterday, when I felt so anxious when I was at Calhoun going from one place to the other to the next trying to get back in the class at school...I was walking to my car, and I saw a sticker on the back of a car that said, "Relax, GOD is in control."  It sure did make me stop and smile in the midst of my anxiousness to remember that...HE is in control, and HE knows the path that I take. 
          I am so grateful for the grace HE showed me at school yesterday.   I told each one who helped me, including Mrs. Crouse, who was so kind, and said she was happy to take me back, without having to attend class, was willing to give me extra credit for my scratch paper I'm doing my homework on, and working with me any way she can to help me pass this class, if I don't make it, I sure did appreciate their kindness to me.  There are some great folks working down there at Calhoun...the lady in the disability office who helped me, I sat there and listened to her encouraging another young man to study, and work hard.  There was a saint in the vice president's office who encouraged me when I shared my story with her.  So many blessings in the midst of the fire.  Well, I'd better get in the bed...i need my rest I've got another day of hitting the books tomorrow, still trying to catch up.  So thankful for my son, who came in tonight, sat on my bed  and helped me with "domains," and reminded me about the lectures that are online. GOD is really giving me a lot of grace to help me through this class and I praise HIM and thank HIM for all of HIS help...including your prayers for me and my loved ones.  GOD bless you and thank you for sharing this time with me.


    "Trust in the LORD, with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge HIM and HE will direct thy paths." Pr. 3:5,6
 

 
                                                     With all HIS love,
                                                                                         mitzi


"Worry is an old man with bended head, carrying a load of feathers which he thinks are lead." Corrie Ten Boom

"Do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or What shall we wear?" ...For your heavenly FATHER knows that you need all these things." Matt. 6:31-32