"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed for I am thy GOD: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah 41:10
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
It is very pleasant out here "At the Campsite" this morning...it is heating up , but where i sit in the breezeway on the porch, i catch a breeze every once in a while and it's really refreshing. It's a good time to write while I am feeling steady this morning...these days, my body is feeling more like a roller coaster than steady, and I am continuing to have some issues with my health that perplex me, and dismay me at times. This morning i was reading a devotion about Chuck Colson in my One Year Book of CHRISTian History. Chuck Colson was a part of the Watergate crimes, and after the LORD broke his prideful heart and saved him from his sins, he plead guilty to a Watergate crime that he had not been charged. The man who had become a senior partner in a prestigious Washington D.C. law firm and then served in the role as special counsel to the President of the United States was sentenced to a prison term of one to three years at Maxwell Federal Prison in Montgomery, Alabama and put in charge of the washing machines. After he had been in prison seven months, his family began falling apart, with his wife near the breaking point and his son was in jail for drug possession. At this point, Chuck Colson completely surrendered himself to the LORD, and two days later the judge released him from prison because of his family problems. In 1976, Chuck Colson founded Prison Fellowship, that ministers in six hundred prisons in 88 countries with 50,000 volunteers. The devotion shared that "Colson was prepared for this role in GOD's kingdom through a painful process." The question at the end really spoke to me as it said,
"What do you believe your role is in GOD's kingdom? Have you experienced painful periods of preparation? Can you see GOD's hand through it all?"
The verse following that question was:
I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the GOOD NEWS...And because of my imprisonment, many of the CHRISTians here have gained confidence and became more bold in telling others about CHRIST." Phil. 1:12-14
I was going to say, I don't know about you, but I have been going through a painful process lately with my health and in some other areas. But you know what...i do know about some of you, and that you too are going through painful processes. If you're not now, you have in the past or you will be soon if you are able to read this and you are walking on this earth....JESUS promises us that in HIS WORD..."In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33
I guess this is as good a place as any to share with ya'll that I have decided not to return to nursing school. It was kind of decided for me this past weekend, as I struggled majorly with some health issues, and then found out the scholarship money that I had counted on to help pay the tuition just wasn't there. GOD was very gracious to "turn the heat up a little on my suffering," to help me with this decision. Those plans, came to a screeching halt this weekend, and you know what...i am glad and so relieved. It was a heavy burden on my back to think of taking a full load of classes that I wasn't even interested in but had to take to get to where i thought the LORD was leading me. Johnny, and others have mentioned the possibility of me taking some nutrition courses that would be more along the line of how i feel called to help others. At this point, after enduring a strenuous math class this summer, i am very content to read and study at home at my own pace, and sharing again on a more informal basis the knowledge the LORD has shared with me on my own health journey. I'm looking forward to teaching a class at our church again on Sunday nights under the umbrella "Caring for our Temples." This semester we are planning to study Dr. Sherry Roger's book about High Blood Pressure. We will be learning together triggers in our environment that can cause high blood pressure, allergies that can cause high blood pressure, things in our diet that contribute to it, and ways to help cure it naturally through supplementation, environmental changes, food changes, etc...under your doctor's supervision. Come and join us starting Sunday night, Aug. 21, in room 207 at First Baptist Church in Athens. Come and join us to worship our LORD and visit us SS if you are looking for a church home...we would love to have you worship with us.
I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve the LORD in this way, and share the information that HE has blessed me to learn along my journey with those here. When Johnny and I felt called to the foreign mission field, he went to seminary, and I to nursing school to prepare for that calling. I never dreamed I would get to be a "missionary" in my own home church, teaching the people here what I have learned from my doctor's in Dallas and other places that has helped me so much. I may have hit a "bump" in the road with my health, but I believe GOD is healing me every so gradually, and this "bump" is part of that healing process. Though this process is painful, so is the surgeon's scapel that brings healing to the person who needs that operation. Somehow, i think that GOD is using this to help further equip me, so that I can better serve in the way that HE wants me to. I can tell you this, i have been humbled this summer, and I have learned a lot through this process and i look forward to learning even more...not just about physical things about supplements or my body, but more importantly that GOD wants us to turn to HIM with all that perplexes us. "Call to ME and I will answer you and show you great and unsearchable things that you do not know." Jer. 33:3. A friend shared this verse in SS one day recently, and although I had learned it many years ago when the children were little, I hadn't thought of it in years. It hit me like a ton of bricks...GOD wants me to call to HIM, for me to ask HIM for wisdom, for answers, and really depend upon HIM to provide my needs.
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
It is very pleasant out here "At the Campsite" this morning...it is heating up , but where i sit in the breezeway on the porch, i catch a breeze every once in a while and it's really refreshing. It's a good time to write while I am feeling steady this morning...these days, my body is feeling more like a roller coaster than steady, and I am continuing to have some issues with my health that perplex me, and dismay me at times. This morning i was reading a devotion about Chuck Colson in my One Year Book of CHRISTian History. Chuck Colson was a part of the Watergate crimes, and after the LORD broke his prideful heart and saved him from his sins, he plead guilty to a Watergate crime that he had not been charged. The man who had become a senior partner in a prestigious Washington D.C. law firm and then served in the role as special counsel to the President of the United States was sentenced to a prison term of one to three years at Maxwell Federal Prison in Montgomery, Alabama and put in charge of the washing machines. After he had been in prison seven months, his family began falling apart, with his wife near the breaking point and his son was in jail for drug possession. At this point, Chuck Colson completely surrendered himself to the LORD, and two days later the judge released him from prison because of his family problems. In 1976, Chuck Colson founded Prison Fellowship, that ministers in six hundred prisons in 88 countries with 50,000 volunteers. The devotion shared that "Colson was prepared for this role in GOD's kingdom through a painful process." The question at the end really spoke to me as it said,
"What do you believe your role is in GOD's kingdom? Have you experienced painful periods of preparation? Can you see GOD's hand through it all?"
The verse following that question was:
I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the GOOD NEWS...And because of my imprisonment, many of the CHRISTians here have gained confidence and became more bold in telling others about CHRIST." Phil. 1:12-14
I was going to say, I don't know about you, but I have been going through a painful process lately with my health and in some other areas. But you know what...i do know about some of you, and that you too are going through painful processes. If you're not now, you have in the past or you will be soon if you are able to read this and you are walking on this earth....JESUS promises us that in HIS WORD..."In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33
I guess this is as good a place as any to share with ya'll that I have decided not to return to nursing school. It was kind of decided for me this past weekend, as I struggled majorly with some health issues, and then found out the scholarship money that I had counted on to help pay the tuition just wasn't there. GOD was very gracious to "turn the heat up a little on my suffering," to help me with this decision. Those plans, came to a screeching halt this weekend, and you know what...i am glad and so relieved. It was a heavy burden on my back to think of taking a full load of classes that I wasn't even interested in but had to take to get to where i thought the LORD was leading me. Johnny, and others have mentioned the possibility of me taking some nutrition courses that would be more along the line of how i feel called to help others. At this point, after enduring a strenuous math class this summer, i am very content to read and study at home at my own pace, and sharing again on a more informal basis the knowledge the LORD has shared with me on my own health journey. I'm looking forward to teaching a class at our church again on Sunday nights under the umbrella "Caring for our Temples." This semester we are planning to study Dr. Sherry Roger's book about High Blood Pressure. We will be learning together triggers in our environment that can cause high blood pressure, allergies that can cause high blood pressure, things in our diet that contribute to it, and ways to help cure it naturally through supplementation, environmental changes, food changes, etc...under your doctor's supervision. Come and join us starting Sunday night, Aug. 21, in room 207 at First Baptist Church in Athens. Come and join us to worship our LORD and visit us SS if you are looking for a church home...we would love to have you worship with us.
I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve the LORD in this way, and share the information that HE has blessed me to learn along my journey with those here. When Johnny and I felt called to the foreign mission field, he went to seminary, and I to nursing school to prepare for that calling. I never dreamed I would get to be a "missionary" in my own home church, teaching the people here what I have learned from my doctor's in Dallas and other places that has helped me so much. I may have hit a "bump" in the road with my health, but I believe GOD is healing me every so gradually, and this "bump" is part of that healing process. Though this process is painful, so is the surgeon's scapel that brings healing to the person who needs that operation. Somehow, i think that GOD is using this to help further equip me, so that I can better serve in the way that HE wants me to. I can tell you this, i have been humbled this summer, and I have learned a lot through this process and i look forward to learning even more...not just about physical things about supplements or my body, but more importantly that GOD wants us to turn to HIM with all that perplexes us. "Call to ME and I will answer you and show you great and unsearchable things that you do not know." Jer. 33:3. A friend shared this verse in SS one day recently, and although I had learned it many years ago when the children were little, I hadn't thought of it in years. It hit me like a ton of bricks...GOD wants me to call to HIM, for me to ask HIM for wisdom, for answers, and really depend upon HIM to provide my needs.
Psalm 34 is one that I memorized when I first got sick...real sick, when I was 27 years old with a 9 month old baby, and I could hardly do anything eventually but lie in the floor. It has become much more real and meaningful to me this summer, as I think about how many times in that Psalm it shares that the LORD is the ONE who delivers us from all our fears. THE LORD JESUS and HIS WORD has become a " Firm Foundation," to remind me of all the LORD has brought me through on this journey and will continue to, until HE leads me safely HOME with HIM. "O taste and see that the LORD is good," says Psalm 34:8. See how many times the LORD reassures us in Psalm 34 that HE will indeed deliver us from all our troubles...one way or the other. I know this to be true after living with a chronic illness for many years...HE has delivered me from one trouble after another and HE will deliver me from this one too. It's funny, the things that I am struggling with now are things I dealt with in my illness early on. I am hopeful that nutrition, detox, and the supplementation i am using are part of the tool's the LORD is bringing to help restore my health. The most important part of my healing is my "Firm Foundation," JESUS CHRIST. HE is the one WHO restores my soul, and leads me beside the still waters. As I'm going through these earlier symptoms i used to have...the LORD is bringing back to my memory HIS WORD in Psalm 34 that HE led me to memorize during those earlier days. HE reminds me over and over how many things HE has brought our family through the years...and HE will continue to be WHO HE says HE is.
Psalm 34
1 I will extol the LORD at all times;
HIS praise will always be on my lips.
2 My soul will boast in the LORD;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the LORD with me;
let us exalt HIS name together.
4 I sought the LORD, and HE answered me;
HE delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to HIM are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
HE saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The ANGEL of the LORD encamps around those who fear HIM,
and HE delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in HIM.
9 Fear the LORD, you HIS holy people,
for those who fear HIM lack nothing.
10 The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
11 Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12 Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
and HIS ears are attentive to their cry;
16 but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to blot out their name from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
HE delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the LORD delivers him from them all;
20 HE protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
22 The LORD will rescue HIS servants;
no one who takes refuge in HIM will be condemned.
Speaking of those many things...last Weds. night, my husband and son and I were at the table in our kitchen eating supper when Hannah Beth called. She had left for Mobile that morning to return to school, and on the way, she stopped at her old roommate's house in Montgomery to spend the afternoon with her. Her roommate is transferring to Liberty University this semester so they wanted to spend some time together before they both went off to seperate schools. Hannah Beth called to tell us she was leaving a movie she and her friend went to, and after grabbing some yogurt, she would be heading on down to Mobile. I didn't talk long since we were eating, and kind of hurried off the phone. Less than 10 minutes later, Hannah Beth called her Daddy's cell phone, and told him that she and her friend had been in a wreck. I could hear Hannah Beth's voice and she sounded calm, but her friend was crying in the background. Hannah Beth was sitting on the passenger side of her friend's car, and the car had hit right above where Hannah Beth was sitting. A split second and the impact of the car would have plowed full force into Hannah Beth. The airbags went off in the car, and Hannah Beth and her friend both recieved some scrapes and bruises, but thankfully that is all. When the paramedics arrived at the scene, they had just left a fatality to come to the wreck where Hannah Beth was. THANKFULLY, no one was hurt badly, just a couple of cars totalled...we are so blessed. But you know, we would have to had said the same thing if the LORD had chosen to take our baby home last Weds, or allow her to be injured. Those are easy words to say, on this side. I sure hope that I could say them if that is HIS will sometime. HB made it safely down to Mobile late Weds. night...and now she's taking off to Atlanta this weekend to see her friend being baptized Sunday. I hate to think of her on the road again... be praying for that ANGEL of the LORD to encamp around her and keep her safe...so thankful the angels protected my baby this week through the car wreck and each and every minute of the day.
Psalm 34
1 I will extol the LORD at all times;
HIS praise will always be on my lips.
2 My soul will boast in the LORD;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the LORD with me;
let us exalt HIS name together.
4 I sought the LORD, and HE answered me;
HE delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to HIM are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
HE saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The ANGEL of the LORD encamps around those who fear HIM,
and HE delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in HIM.
9 Fear the LORD, you HIS holy people,
for those who fear HIM lack nothing.
10 The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
11 Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12 Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
and HIS ears are attentive to their cry;
16 but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to blot out their name from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
HE delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the LORD delivers him from them all;
20 HE protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
22 The LORD will rescue HIS servants;
no one who takes refuge in HIM will be condemned.
Speaking of those many things...last Weds. night, my husband and son and I were at the table in our kitchen eating supper when Hannah Beth called. She had left for Mobile that morning to return to school, and on the way, she stopped at her old roommate's house in Montgomery to spend the afternoon with her. Her roommate is transferring to Liberty University this semester so they wanted to spend some time together before they both went off to seperate schools. Hannah Beth called to tell us she was leaving a movie she and her friend went to, and after grabbing some yogurt, she would be heading on down to Mobile. I didn't talk long since we were eating, and kind of hurried off the phone. Less than 10 minutes later, Hannah Beth called her Daddy's cell phone, and told him that she and her friend had been in a wreck. I could hear Hannah Beth's voice and she sounded calm, but her friend was crying in the background. Hannah Beth was sitting on the passenger side of her friend's car, and the car had hit right above where Hannah Beth was sitting. A split second and the impact of the car would have plowed full force into Hannah Beth. The airbags went off in the car, and Hannah Beth and her friend both recieved some scrapes and bruises, but thankfully that is all. When the paramedics arrived at the scene, they had just left a fatality to come to the wreck where Hannah Beth was. THANKFULLY, no one was hurt badly, just a couple of cars totalled...we are so blessed. But you know, we would have to had said the same thing if the LORD had chosen to take our baby home last Weds, or allow her to be injured. Those are easy words to say, on this side. I sure hope that I could say them if that is HIS will sometime. HB made it safely down to Mobile late Weds. night...and now she's taking off to Atlanta this weekend to see her friend being baptized Sunday. I hate to think of her on the road again... be praying for that ANGEL of the LORD to encamp around her and keep her safe...so thankful the angels protected my baby this week through the car wreck and each and every minute of the day.
"The Angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear HIM and HE delivers them.' Psalm 34:7
We had another issue come up this week with my husband's health...more decisions, more prayer, more opportunities to lean on JESUS, our firm FOUNDATION, our gentle SHEPHERD and GUIDE, OUR GREAT PHYSICIAN, our DELIVERER that HE is for you and for me. HE is ALL these and more...so much more, HE is the GREAT "I AM..." HE is everything we need HIM to be in every situation in life...if we had never been in "that" situation, and HE delivered us from all our troubles, how would we know what a GREAT DELIVERER that HE is?
This morning I got out the hymn book and starting reading the words to the great old hymn "How Firm a Foundation." Those words became very meaningful to me when the kids were little and I was homeschooling and struggling so with my health. What great WORDS, WHAT GREAT PROMISES that hymn contains from Scripture about our FIRM FOUNDATION, the LORD JESUS CHRIST. My feelings, my hormones, my blood sugar, my circumstances may fluctuate all around me, but MY JESUS never fluctuates. HE IS MY ROCK and MY FORTRESS, and MY REDEEMER. HE is MY FIRM FOUNDATION and HE is my DELIVERER...and HE runs to me when I call. This is a great video of the great hymn, "How Firm a Foundation" from the CD "Together for the Gospel Live" from Sovereign Grace Music. I hope that you will take time to listen and let the promises of GOD seep deeply into your soul... http://www.youtube.
We had another issue come up this week with my husband's health...more decisions, more prayer, more opportunities to lean on JESUS, our firm FOUNDATION, our gentle SHEPHERD and GUIDE, OUR GREAT PHYSICIAN, our DELIVERER that HE is for you and for me. HE is ALL these and more...so much more, HE is the GREAT "I AM..." HE is everything we need HIM to be in every situation in life...if we had never been in "that" situation, and HE delivered us from all our troubles, how would we know what a GREAT DELIVERER that HE is?
This morning I got out the hymn book and starting reading the words to the great old hymn "How Firm a Foundation." Those words became very meaningful to me when the kids were little and I was homeschooling and struggling so with my health. What great WORDS, WHAT GREAT PROMISES that hymn contains from Scripture about our FIRM FOUNDATION, the LORD JESUS CHRIST. My feelings, my hormones, my blood sugar, my circumstances may fluctuate all around me, but MY JESUS never fluctuates. HE IS MY ROCK and MY FORTRESS, and MY REDEEMER. HE is MY FIRM FOUNDATION and HE is my DELIVERER...and HE runs to me when I call. This is a great video of the great hymn, "How Firm a Foundation" from the CD "Together for the Gospel Live" from Sovereign Grace Music. I hope that you will take time to listen and let the promises of GOD seep deeply into your soul... http://www.youtube.
"How Firm a Foundation"
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the LORD,
Is laid for your faith in HIS excellent WORD!
What more can HE say than to you HE hath said,
To you who for refuge to JESUS have fled?
Fear not! I am with thee; O be not dismayed,
For I am thy GOD and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by MY righteous omnipotent hand.
"When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient shall be thy supply.
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
The soul that on JESUS hath leaned for repose;
I will not, I will not desert to his foes.
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no never no never forsake!"
Well, my husband's home early from work and he's sick...so i'd best go and check on him. Before i do...i want to tell you that JESUS is THE FIRM FOUNDATION for all the waves that come up against us in life. If you have never fully put your trust in HIM like Chuck Colson and surrendered your life to HIM, you can do that right now where you are reading this...I have noticed on my blog where the LORD takes this email to all parts of the world. It's kind of humbling to think of something that I am writing on my back porch here in the Deep South, that HE may use to bring someone to know HIM as LORD and SAVIOR in another part of the world. HE is giving me the "desires of my heart" to be a foreign missionary in many ways and to tell others of HIS great love for us. That LOVE that loves us so much gave HIS one and only SON, JESUS CHRIST, to pay the price for our sins that seperate us from GOD. HE doesn't want anyone to perish in hell for their sins. "For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only SON that whosoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16. Won't you accept JESUS CHRIST as your LORD and SAVIOR? HE will become your FIRM FOUNDATION too, that will take your through your trials, and help you to stand.
 |
| "The Campsite" on my back porch |
I had a sweet friend who i have never met, except through these emails, to ask for a picture of "The Campsite," last week after I sent that email out called, "At the Campsite." If you missed it you can read it on the blogsite http://mitzi-
With all HIS love,
mitzi
P.S. Since I wrote this...John Mac found my grade online and indeed, the LORD did make an "A" in PreCalculus this summer..."All things are possible with GOD!"
P.S. Since I wrote this...John Mac found my grade online and indeed, the LORD did make an "A" in PreCalculus this summer..."All things are possible with GOD!"
--
"Men ought always to pray and not to faint." Luke 18:11
"When I passed by thee,...I said unto thee..., Live."
Ezekiel 16:6
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