"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5:10
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
You have been so kind to pray and ask about Dana and her family and it means so much to me to see you and you ask about them, or you send me a message and want to know what i have heard. Thank you so much for your love and concern and prayers for them. Her Daddy's post that i shared with you last Monday night shared Dana does have custody of Tristan, their 4 month old baby, but they are not free to leave California because they want to keep "evaluating" them for a few months. Dana posted a few days later in response to her Daddy's post:
Dana Grammer Sanchez ...Each day that goes buy my heart hurts more and my physical health takes a toll. I find it hard to want to eat so I drink shakes so I can stay strong. This is the most life altering nightmare ever. I can no longer explain the pain I feel. God is my strength and my refuge. I stand for and by him more so now than ever. And my faith and love for him has multiplied. I do pray for zach to stay close to the Lord since I am not there to install those morals.I just pray that he remember what we taught him. Sometimes I'm ok. Other times I collapse to the floor in tears. I have to be strong especially for my kids but it is very hard to do when your family is ripped into shreds. I know God is with me and I thank him even in these times. I handed Zach when he was a baby as he got baptized. Now at ten I have completely handed him to God. He has got Zach under his wing. I pray for Zach each night and through my time alone praying. I know God has Zach very close to him and is with him. And he will be ok. I cling to this all day and night. All I can do now is pray for him constantly. I miss him more than anyone can understand. He is my heart.... Both of my boys.
Her post breaks your heart over the agony she is going through, yet at the same time, her sharing the closeness of her LORD, and how she has surrendered her children up to GOD is such an example for all of us. As i write, the verse from Psalm 34:18 comes to my mind: "The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Dana is truly an example of how GOD is close to the broken hearted, and HE does indeed save those who are crushed in spirit.
Zach holding his baby brother Tristan a couple of months before he was taken away by CPS
The update from her Daddy is from Sunday evening:
Sermon today was about standing up for your beliefs and not fearing the consequences, because fear of this world is not from GOD. We should all stand behind are beliefs with actions and glorify GOD when we are truthful and persecuted for it. Since June 15th our family has been held captive by this fear of what would happen if we said or did anything that didn't totally back the da/CPS plan. The plan as I mentioned a few days ago now involves Tristin (4 month old). Up to now we have been quiet for the most part and Zach was and still is being punished because members of our family didn't lie to follow the plan. We have been working hard behind the scenes for Zach and your prayers are really needed for him. Dana and Anthony need many prayers. We should have a little news concerning Zach at the end of the week or early next week. Please keep Zach on your mind and we will bring him home. Zach - punished for 64 days and counting !
I had suspected that because Dana stood by her husband's discipline of Zach and didn't lie is why Zach was taken away from Dana. Terry's post pretty much confirms that. Dana had to make a very, very hard decision and tell the truth, standing by her husband's discipline and it has cost her her son for now. What an example to all of us of standing in the fire of persecution for their CHRISTian beliefs to spank their son. I just read this tonight confirming that CHRISTians are indeed being persecuted for their religious beliefs more and more in our country. The Grammer family is among those suffering for being born again CHRISTians and exercising their beliefs to spank their son.
A new survey conducted by two conservative groups reveals proven hostility toward Christianity in the U.S.
The joint study from Liberty Institute and the Family Research Council(FRC) records up to 600 incidents of hostility toward religion, most of which have occurred within the last ten years. For example, a Christian couple was fired as apartment complex managers and forced to move because a painting with a Christian reference was displayed in their office (see earlier story). Also listed is a student who was told he could not wear a t-shirt to school because of its Christian message.
RAISING AWARENESS
Liberty Institute attorney Justin Butterfield tells OneNewsNow what his group hopes to accomplish with the study's findings.
"We want to raise awareness of the issue. A lot of people think that hostility because of people's religious beliefs and attacks on religious liberty are things that happen elsewhere in the world, not in the United States," he notes. "We just want to show that it actually happens with increasing and alarming regularity here in the United States."
Liberty Institute President Kelly Shackelford and FRC President Tony Perkins are presenting the study before the Republican Party Convention platform committee to raise that awareness.
"It's something that has gone under the radar, and we want to bring it up and point out that this is an issue and a concern that's affecting more and more Americans each year," Butterfield adds.
The Liberty Institute further points out that religious liberty is "facing a relentless onslaught from well-funded and aggressive groups" who are using whatever means available to suppress or attack religious freedom
I came across this verse from Proverbs this week and it really jumped out at me concerning discipline and what Dana and her family are being severely persecuted for practicing their religious beliefs to spank their son.
Proverbs 23:13-14
New King James Version (NKJV)
13 Do not withhold correction from a child,
For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
14 You shall beat him with a rod,
And deliver his soul from hell.[a]
This verse doesn't say, spank, it says beat....wow....wonder what the courts would do with that? Well, we are seeing what they do when a Dad whipped his son in the backyard with a belt, and left no marks by the way. He hit him seven times, and twice he missed. Two of the spankings were not even hard swipes. The media said he was spanking because he missed the ball...the real story, Zach was being disrespectful to his Dad. Zach said so himself. They took away the Daddy's job as an elected official, his home, his family, put him in jail with a $100,000 bail and charged him with a felony...and they took away his son, and sent him 3,000 miles to live with his biological Daddy who has got a track record of not caring for his son...they've already been through court in Alabama dealing with all of that years ago. Enter "Child Protective Services," and they award this young boy who is so fearful of his biological daddy he said he would rather live in foster care than go with him.
This is the kind of pressure and earthquakes that families are destroyed under...but Dana's family is exhibiting to us, a picture of "Grace Under Pressure," GOD's grace to help them get through this very difficult circumstances.
I read a quote by Elisabeth Elliot this week that sure made me think of sweet Dana, and all of her family through these circumstances.
"Many of our prayers are for a quick and easy solution. GOD is more glorified in HIS people when they exhibit HIS grace under pressure."
"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5:10
Dana Grammer Sanchez ...Each day that goes buy my heart hurts more and my physical health takes a toll. I find it hard to want to eat so I drink shakes so I can stay strong. This is the most life altering nightmare ever. I can no longer explain the pain I feel. God is my strength and my refuge. I stand for and by him more so now than ever. And my faith and love for him has multiplied. I do pray for zach to stay close to the Lord since I am not there to install those morals.I just pray that he remember what we taught him. Sometimes I'm ok. Other times I collapse to the floor in tears. I have to be strong especially for my kids but it is very hard to do when your family is ripped into shreds. I know God is with me and I thank him even in these times. I handed Zach when he was a baby as he got baptized. Now at ten I have completely handed him to God. He has got Zach under his wing. I pray for Zach each night and through my time alone praying. I know God has Zach very close to him and is with him. And he will be ok. I cling to this all day and night. All I can do now is pray for him constantly. I miss him more than anyone can understand. He is my heart.... Both of my boys.
 |
| Zach holding his baby brother Tristan a couple of months before he was taken away by CPS |
Sermon today was about standing up for your beliefs and not fearing the consequences, because fear of this world is not from GOD. We should all stand behind are beliefs with actions and glorify GOD when we are truthful and persecuted for it. Since June 15th our family has been held captive by this fear of what would happen if we said or did anything that didn't totally back the da/CPS plan. The plan as I mentioned a few days ago now involves Tristin (4 month old). Up to now we have been quiet for the most part and Zach was and still is being punished because members of our family didn't lie to follow the plan. We have been working hard behind the scenes for Zach and your prayers are really needed for him. Dana and Anthony need many prayers. We should have a little news concerning Zach at the end of the week or early next week. Please keep Zach on your mind and we will bring him home. Zach - punished for 64 days and counting !
A new survey conducted by two conservative groups reveals proven hostility toward Christianity in the U.S.
The joint study from Liberty Institute and the Family Research Council(FRC) records up to 600 incidents of hostility toward religion, most of which have occurred within the last ten years. For example, a Christian couple was fired as apartment complex managers and forced to move because a painting with a Christian reference was displayed in their office (see earlier story). Also listed is a student who was told he could not wear a t-shirt to school because of its Christian message.
RAISING AWARENESS
Liberty Institute attorney Justin Butterfield tells OneNewsNow what his group hopes to accomplish with the study's findings.
"We want to raise awareness of the issue. A lot of people think that hostility because of people's religious beliefs and attacks on religious liberty are things that happen elsewhere in the world, not in the United States," he notes. "We just want to show that it actually happens with increasing and alarming regularity here in the United States."
Liberty Institute President Kelly Shackelford and FRC President Tony Perkins are presenting the study before the Republican Party Convention platform committee to raise that awareness.
"It's something that has gone under the radar, and we want to bring it up and point out that this is an issue and a concern that's affecting more and more Americans each year," Butterfield adds.
The Liberty Institute further points out that religious liberty is "facing a relentless onslaught from well-funded and aggressive groups" who are using whatever means available to suppress or attack religious freedom
Proverbs 23:13-14
New King James Version (NKJV)
13 Do not withhold correction from a child,
For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
14 You shall beat him with a rod,
And deliver his soul from hell.[a]
For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
14 You shall beat him with a rod,
And deliver his soul from hell.[a]
The quote from Dana and her Daddy both show much "grace under pressure,"...grace to stand in the midst of the fire that is given by GOD above who gives "strength to the weary," and causes us to "mount up with wings like eagles" when we don't think we can take another step.
Friends, our religious freedoms are being taken away from us....http://www.defendproclaimthefaith.org/blog// This quote was on an email from the CHRISTian Anti Defamation Commission today:
"Does a double standard exist in the way Christianity is treated in America? More and more we are seeing reports of anti-Christian bigotry and discrimination in America.
If you, or someone you know, has been discriminated against or unjustly attacked because of your Christian faith, we're here to help! "
Just look what a stir the head of Chik-Fil-A caused when he spoke in support of the Biblical pattern of marriage and the family. There are those out there who hate our beliefs in CHRIST and HIS WORD, they hate us, and most of all they hate CHRIST who loves them so much HE died for them, and for us on a wooden cross to forgive us for all our sins, and to rescue us from the dominion of darkness and place us in HIS kingdom of light and love. The New Testament CHRISTians were experiencing great persecution when the Apostle Paul penned these words inspired by the HOLY SPIRIT.
11-14 As you live this new life, we pray that you will be strengthened from God’s boundless resources, so that you will find yourselves able to pass through any experience and endure it with courage. You will even be able to thank God in the midst of pain and distress because you are privileged to share the lot of those who are living in the light. For we must never forget that he rescued us from the power of darkness, and re-established us in the kingdom of his beloved Son, that is, in the kingdom of light. For it is by his Son alone that we have been redeemed and have had our sins forgiven. Col. 1:11-14
While JESUS was dying on the Cross for us, his body beaten to a pulp, beyond recognition, the blood pouring out all over his body that was beaten with a whip that had sharp bones interwoven in it to inflict more pain, HE cried out, "FATHER forgive them, they know not what they do." Luke 23:34
This verse stops me in my tracks because i want to be mad at those who have tried to tear Dana's family apart, and those who have come against Chick-Fil-A, and then i am reminded that except for the grace of GOD rescuing me from the domain of darkness, i would be lost, undone, persecuting those who love CHRIST. I'm really glad the LORD reminded me of this to humble me and remind me that apart from CHRIST i am capable of doing the same thing.
When i remember how much CHRIST has forgiven me, then i am able to forgive those who hurt me, or those i love with the forgiviness and love that CHRIST has shown me. I've never been anywhere near as persecuted as Dana and her family have been, but if we are, GOD will give us the grace to walk in that place just as HE has Dana and her family. Pray for Dana's family that they will not have any lasting bitterness and be able to forgive those who have trespassed against them, and even be a witness to them that they too might come to know JESUS CHRIST as their LORD and SAVIOR.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Matt. 5:44
It's funny how this email turned as i wrote....i wasn't even thinking about forgiveness when i started out, just wanted to give you an update. Please pray for Dana and all her family and friends, that we would all be able to forgive those who have trespassed against them, especially the neighbor who videod them and put it on youtube. May they truly "Love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them." Matt. 5:44. It's easy when it's not me or you in the hotseat...but it may very well be one day soon. Will i be able to show GOD's "Grace Under Pressure," if it's me? I have to begin in the little things that irritate and bother me right now....showing HIS "grace under pressure "when i had rather snap at someone or be irritable, or unkind, when they have been unkind to me. I can only do exhibit HIS grace as i abide in HIM, and trust in HIM that HE truly is in control of all the events of my life. HE is doing what is best for me, and others as HE is working out HIS plan to bring glory to HIMself, and good to me and others.
Thank you so much for your continued prayers for Dana and her dear family. Terry said this week they should know something about Zach...please pray ferverently that he is close to being reunited with his mom and family if this is HIS will and best timing. GOD knows what HE's about, why HE has "engineered these circumstances," and HE is in charge of opening the doors and closing them in HIS perfect timing. Here is Zach's address again for anyone who wants to write and encourage him:
Last week i read a devotion about the hymn "Nearer, my GOD, to Thee." GOD uses these difficult circumstances in our lives to draw us ever closer to HIM..."e'en though it be a cross that raiseth me." May this ever be our prayer, "Nearer, my GOD, to Thee, nearer to THEE! E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me."
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.
E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.
- Refrain:
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
Thank you dear friends for your faithful prayers for Dana and her family, thank you for praying for my family. Our son had his first day in Fundamentals yesterday, and his study load will get heavy from now until awhile. We had the privilege to attend his "White Coat Ceremony" on Sunday and what a blessing that was...i hope to share more about that in my next email. Hannah Beth's first day of her senior year of nursing is today, please pray for both of my children to "seek ye first the kingdom of GOD and HIS righteousness and all these things will be added unto you." Matt. 6:33. My nephew out in Sugarland, Texas is beginning his freshman year of college, please remember Nicholas in your prayers. My niece, Corinne is beginning pharmacy school in Memphis...thank you for remembering her too.
I just read this prayer tonight on our SS teacher, Connie Pearson's FB page. Her son wrote this prayer for his boys starting to school. As i read along i prayed it for my children....you may want to do the same. It's a powerful prayer for our kids no matter what age they may be from kindergarten to college to adults: http://theheartofpastormatt.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/a-prayer-for-my-kids-on-their-first-day-of-school/.
Please remember me in your prayers, i have begun a new regiment for my health...similar to what i've done in the past with a little tweaking. I'm having a little turbulence, and ask you to pray the LORD would grant wisdom to me and my doctors. I'm excited about our new discipleship training class starting up this Sunday night at our church at 5:00 p.m. I will be facilitating that class and we will be using the book Ultrametabolism by Dr. Mark Hyman as a guide to learn about foods that heal our metabolism, foods that kill our metabolism, environmental issues that affect our metabolism, and underlying issues that keep us from loosing weight and feeling our best. I am thankful for this journey that the LORD has used to teach me such a wealth of information from the best of teachers for true healing for our temples...come join us as we learn together. If you can't join us, please pray for us.
With all HIS love,
mitzi
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"Men ought always to pray and not to faint." Luke 18:1
"He Knows My Name"
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