Victorious in Defeat

Our daughter with young friend,Chris Radcliffe at the Pep Rally.  His family worked so hard to help us and we are so grateful to the Radcliffes and all of our friends and family who came alongside us to help us in this race the LORD called us to run.

"I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain."  John 15:16

"In all these things we are more than conquerors through HIM that loved us." Romans 8:37

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

      "GOD will see to it that we are in circumstances that are best designed by HIS sovereign love to give us opportunity to bear fruit for HIM."  Elisabeth Elliot, www.elisabethelliot.org

      It seems like it has been a lifetime ago since i last wrote, but i guess it's only been two weeks ago.  It seems that long cause we've packed in a lifetime since the last time i wrote.  For those of you who haven't been reading these emails, my husband was running for Circuit Court Clerk in our County and boy, do i know the meaning of running and race and campaign now.  I have been involved in several other campaigns for friends before, but never our own, and i can tell you it is a race!  The election was this past Tuesday, and we lost by 2500 votes.  We sure were hoping it would be closer, but we lost to a a very honorable man who the LORD raised up to win this election.  Our local paper didn't have to use quite the painful headlines they did, http://enewscourier.com/local/x2029125891/Curnutt-cruises-to-victory-over-Evans-in-circuit-court-clerk-race but they did, and they were pretty truthful.   It was never was that close all night nor in the race.   From the time we heard the absentee ballots we knew we were in trouble...cause we had been told by the present Circuit Court Clerk, the election usually goes the way the absentee ballots are....and we were behind by 67 votes or so from the get go.   As i stood behind my husband and my brother in law as we watched the campaign results at the courthouse, with our son  beside us, i was at peace. Though I  was disappointed for my husband and brother in law who had worked so hard and invested so much in this campaign, GOD's peace permeated my soul, this was HIS will for our opponent and for us.  My brother in law and his wife, and my mother in law all worked extra at the restaurant so my husband could be off and campaign, and my brother in law backed his brother financially to pay the bulk of the campaign. After the results were mostly in, i walked over to our opponent...thankfully no longer our opponent, and congratulated he and his wife, who is the nurse supervisor for the Home Health Care agency i get IV's from every two weeks.  I told her I was glad the race was over, i was ready for her to go back to being my nursing supervisor instead of our opponent and i meant it.  I hate that aspect of a political race, how it seems to naturally put one group of people against another. Thankfully, since the race was over, Paula, the winner's wife, and I are now friends on FB, as well as real life:) and we have sent emails and messages back and forth to each other.  It's amazing how different things look when your husband's are not racing against each other.  I'm so thankful for the sweet message and emails i received from her...what a special blessing from the LORD!

     Since the campaign for us is over, we have been trying to get some rest between "dismantling" a campaign, Johnny has been busy taking signs down, along with several of our friends, and getting them taken care of, while returning to work full time back at the restaurant and other businesses he has and i've been writing thank you notes and trying to catch up on the yard work around here.  All in all, we've been "whupped," and trying to get our strength back.  So glad the election ended when it did...the LORD knew we were tired and worn out. He gave us supernatural strength each day to do what neither of us could, and HE provided all our needs in CHRIST JESUS for the campaign.

    I have thought about so many things to write you about that GOD did to show HIS lovingkindness and provision for us in this place HE called us to bear fruit and be an influence for HIM the past eight weeks.  This morning,( (i wrote this part Sunday afternoon) Dr. Mark Foley, the President of the University of Mobile where our daughter is in nursing school, spoke at our church about bearing fruit for CHRIST.  He said that bearing fruit can be thought of as our influence for CHRIST.  A couple of weeks ago, i read the quote i listed above by Elisabeth Elliot, and GOD used it to really minister to me, as i wrestled with the whole idea of my husband running for Circuit Court Clerk., and i did that time and time again throughout the campaign.  With Dr. Foley's words this morning, i was again reassured that running for Circuit Court Clerk for the past 8 weeks was the best place GOD had for us to be an influence for HIM, and winning the election was not.  Evidently, loosing the election is the best place that we can be an influence for HIM and we are trying to do that in HIS strength and power. 

      When my husband would come in most days after going door to door with painful hurting knees , i thought about JESUS on the cross, and what HE endured so that we could be forgiven for our sins.  JESUS calls us to join HIM in the sufferings of CHRIST in order that we can minister to others...and CHRIST brings life to others out of our deaths, and out of our sufferings for HIM.

     "We want to avoid suffering, death, sin, ashes.  But we live in a world crushed and broken and torn, a world GOD HIMself visited to redeem.  We receive HIS poured-out life, and being allowed the high privilege of suffering with HIM, we may then pour ourselves out for others." Elisabeth Elliot

     "For to you it has been granted on behalf of CHRIST, not only to believe in HIM, but also to suffer for HIS sake."  Philippians 1:29.

    I am not sure all the reasons GOD called Johnny to run for Circuit Court Clerk or why he had to hurt so much while doing it.  But I am sure of this, that GOD will use all those experiences, the blessings and the sufferings to work for our good and the good of those whose lives CHRIST influenced through ours for  HIS glory to bear lasting fruit for HIM in some way.

    A couple of huge, huge, huge, blessings that came since i was able to write is the Pep Rally we had for Johnny a couple of weeks ago.  My friend Wanda, told me it was more like a "Love Feast," than a Pep Rally, and she was right.   There was such an outpouring of our friends and family, from all walks of life, and different seasons of our lives, along with new friends that we have made along the campaign trail.  It was like having a wedding or your own funeral and all your friends come and you get to see them and be encouraged and encourage them.  Our friends from the Athens Dulcimer group provided music for the large gathering the first hour, while Freddie Craig and the Madison Co. Ramblers sang gospel music and played bluegrass the second hour.  After that the groups combined for a "jam" session, and some folks got up and buck danced or clogged and some man played the spoons and it was like we had a mini "Fiddler's Convention," right there at the Pep Rally.  

The Athens Dulcimer group playing at the Pep Rally

The food was delicious my brother in law and sis in law served buffet style from our restaurant...Bar B Que, potato salad, baked beans, and some cookies, and buns.  

 I stayed outside greeting folks most of the night, partly cause i wanted to, and partly cause i was overloaded from being inside all day helping Hannah Beth, my husband, and friend Wanda decorate for the Pep Rally that evening.  It worked out all good.  The kids had a great time, jumping in the elephant moonwalk set up in the end of the building, and getting their faces painted.  

"Cammy", one of our youngest campaigners, was a trooper while her Mom greeted  folks at the door

Cammie's Mom and friend, helped greet and pass out pens, signs,  and made folks feel loved and special.

                                      

Everyone who came, seemed to have a great time visiting and talking with each other, and seeing friends and family there. It truly was a great and wonderful night and i praise GOD for the blessing of getting loved on by so many people in one night!  Wow!

Friends and family enjoying themselves at the Pep Rally!

    The other huge, huge, huge, blessing came last weekend when 20 or so young folks including our own kids and their friends and some of their parents helped us go door to door to literally thousands of homes on Friday and Saturday.  We called it "Student Project," and those kids worked like trojans from early in the morning to late in the afternoon running up to doors putting fliers in the doors, and covering neighborhood after neighborhood, that we wouldn't have begun to be able to cover.  

Taking a break during "Student Project" after going door to door all morning and afternoon. 

Young friends enjoying waving signs

After a long day of going door to door, they enjoyed making signs and waving them at intersections in the evening, and then we all went and ate at our restaurant.  At the close of Saturday, Johnny treated them to bowling as a reward for their hard work.  What a tremendous blessing all those young people and their parents were to us...THANK YA'LL So VERY MUCH for sacrificing your time to help us in our time of need!  "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

    Truly, these young people and their parents, and our families and friends, laid down their lives in so many ways to make this campaign what it was...an offering and sacrifice to GOD that HE might be glorified in the midst of it...we are so blessed.

   ‎"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the ONE WHO is leading. It is a life of faith, not of intellect and reason, but a life of knowing WHO makes us "go." The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person,and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success." 

- Oswald Chambers 

     
     GOD reminded me of the quote above, a few days or so before the election, and i came across it today as i was reading my devotion in "My Utmost for His Highest."  GOD reminded me that HE doesn't necessarily lead us to "success" in the eyes of the world, when HE calls us and leads us down a path.  Looking back over the years to when we felt led to be foreign missionaries and prepared for that by my husband going to seminary and me to nursing school and then i got sick, reminded me of that painful lesson.  Just this past year, when i felt the LORD leading me to go back to nursing school, and He enabled me to do everything to do that including going back to take a PreCalculus Class, He put the brakes on when it actually came time to start the classes for the nursing school itself.  I don't know why i went through all that last spring and summer, but i sure felt i was obedient to the way HE was leading me at the time...and i have to trust that is where I bore fruit, or had the most influence for HIM at the time.

   I read a great devotion just a while ago, before the LORD blessed me with an hour and a half Sunday afternoon nap from JESUS Calling by Sarah Young, that helps me to trust the LORD in all the paths HE leads me down each day:

    

Trust Me one day at a time. This keeps you close to Me, responsive to My will. Trust is not a natural response, especially for those who have been deeply wounded. My Spirit within you is your resident Tutor, helping you in thissupernatural endeavor. Yield to His gentle touch; be sensitive to His prompting.

Exert your will to trust Me in all circumstances. Don’t let your need to understand distract you from My Presence. I will equip you to get through this day victoriously, as you live in deep dependence on Me. Tomorrow is busy worrying about itself; don’t get tangled up in its worry-webs. Trust Me one day at a time.

O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.
—Psalm 84:12

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” - http://bit.ly/eF5kSq 

    Equipping us to live victoriously as we abide in HIM...that is the promise we have in CHRIST JESUS.  I watched the following video last night on my friend Rhonda Irby's website. http://www.godvine.com/Christian-Athlete-Takes-a-Fall-But-Still-Wins-the-Race-378.html  My husband who almost never posts anything on FB had written a few weeks ago under it:

     Thanks Rhonda. I hope I run this race with a heart like Heather did, never never giving up.

     I saw my husband run that kind of race for the last 8 weeks, and it's a picture of his life.  Though he lives in pain, he doesn't give up, and keeps running the more important race for JESUS, that GOD has called each one of us to run.  GOD doesn't call us to run without providing the HOLY SPIRIT to come and live inside us and strengthen us and empower us to do HIS will for that which HE created us to bring HIM joy and glory.

    If you haven't entered that race to run for JESUS, I invite you to do that right now as you read this email, confess to HIM that you have sinned against HIM, and ask HIM forgive you and be the BOSS of your life. CHRIST died for your sins and mine, because HE loves us so much and wants us to have a personal and intimate relationship with HIM, and bear much fruit through us for all eternity.

     "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 

     Victory over defeat, that's what JESUS did when HE died, was buried and then rose from the grave three days later to defeat death for us!   Praise GOD, Praise GOD, Praise GOD!!!  HE wants to give you and i the victory over the defeats in our lives, and trust HIM to "work all things together for good to those WHO love GOD and are called according to HIS purposes." Romans 8:28, including a run for Circuit Court Clerk that to the world looks like defeat. 

To Johnny and me who knows it was nothing short of GOD's SUPERNATURAL GRACE that enabled us to run, we also know this "peace that passes all understanding" that HE has given us is supernatural too, to trust HIM for HIS plans and purposes.  

     We are so blessed to have been able to be loved on by so many people, and I was reminded of the quote from the movie "It's a Wonderful Life."  

     "No man is a failure who has friends."

Me, with a special friend i haven't seen in years, who came to support us at the Pep Rally.

    

     I couldn't decide which songs to use this week, so i am going to close with two songs:

    The first one is called "Who Can Satisfy My Soul, Like You," sung by Jean Brinkley and the Choir at Lindsay Lane Baptist Church.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BQcX7d8-hI Jean went to be with JESUS just a few short months after this video was recorded last year and this video is a treasure.  My daughter taught Jean's daughter guitar lessons, and she was always such a joy when she brought her to our house.  Jean had a short battle with cancer, before the LORD took her home to satsify her soul as only HE can...another example of victory out of defeat.  Please continue to remember Jean's two teenage daughter's, her husband, Bill, and extended family in your prayers.

    The other song is "Friend of a Wounded Heart," sung by the Brooklyn Tabernacle choir http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPNCRF8r4Lg Our choir sang both of these this week, and GOD used both of them to minister to my heart and  i pray the LORD will use them to minister to yours.

   

   JESUS CHRIST can "Satisfy Our Soul" no matter what we're going through and HE is indeed the "FRIEND of a WOUNDED HEART."  I can testify that HE can give incredible peace in the midst of a loss in a campaign race and i praise HIM for HIS plans and purposes which are incredible for each of us.

‎"We tend to think that what is really good is the fulfillment of our desires. But, in reality, the highest good in the universe is whatever GOD chooses for our lives." Nancy Leigh DeMoss

"May the GOD of peace...equip you with everything good that you may do HIS will, working in us that which is pleasing in HIS sight." Hebrews 13:20a, 21a 

   I love you all, thank you so much for all your love, your prayers for us, your support of us during this amazing time...everyone should run for office at least once:).  It was an incredible journey and I am so thankful the LORD chose us to be HIS ambassadors as HE strengthened us and empowered us by HIS HOLY SPIRIT.

     "Now, then, we are ambassadors for CHRIST, as though GOD were pleading through us: we implore you on CHRIST's behalf, be reconciled to GOD.  For HE made HIM who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of GOD in HIM." 2 Cor. 5:20

   "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of HIM who called you out of darkness into HIS marvelous light." I Peter. 2:9

     We are all CHRIST's ambassador's WHO have been chosen in HIM to proclaim the excellencies of HIM, and implore those who don't know CHRIST to be reconciled to GOD.  You don't have to be in a political race, GOD wants each of us, in the best circumstances HE has chosen for us, to be an influence for HIM to bear fruit, and bring others to HIM.  This is my prayer for you and for us today...that we would be filled with HIS SPIRIT and used by HIM to "proclaim HIS excellencies," and bring others to HIM.  There is truly victory and peace in JESUS, in all our circumstances, when we live and breathe and abide in HIM to fulfill HIS plans and purposes through our lives.

   

    I want to close by inviting you to our Women's Conference on April 21st.  I sure would love for you to come and be a part of this special time in the LORD to be encouraged and refreshed and let us love on you.  The men will be serving the catered meal this year on the beautiful tablescapes the ladies decorate, and i've heard awesome things about the guest speaker.  Our very own "Cornerstone" from FBC will be helping to lead the music along with Kathleen Phraner who lead it last year and did a great job.  Please contact me if you would like a ticket. I would be so honored for you to come and join us!

First Baptist Church Athens

Women’s Conference 2012

featuring

Karen Alexander Doyel

9:00-2:30 (doors open 8:30)

$25 (lunch included)

Advance tickets only

Child care not available

256-232-7829

jackiejackson12@gmail.com

April 21, 2012

201 East Hobbs Street, Athens, AL 35611

 

                                                                          With all HIS love,

                                                                                      mitzi

      

-- 

"For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only SON  that whosoever believeth in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovYPQl93zro

 "Just As I Am" Brian Doerkson