Valentines from GOD and "Forgiveness"

"For CHRIST's love compels us..." 2 Corinthians 5:14

                

              "And the ransomed of the LORD shall return,
                       and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy
                       upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness
                       and mourning shall flee away."
                                               Isaiah 35:10               

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

   

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    I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day...i had a full day spending time with my husband,  eating brunch with my Mom and Dad, attending a Valentine's party for "the widows and elderly"  spending time with Phillip, my "adopted" son at the creek and cooking supper for him and his Daddy.  Phillip's Mom went to be with JESUS less than two years ago after a lengthy fight with breast cancer. i have the blessing of keeping him three days a week after school until his Dad gets home from work.
  
            Valentine's Day can be a hard day for some just like for Phillip and his Dad whose Mom and wife aren't here anymore.  I can think of three young widows just off the top of my head whose "Valentines," have gone on to be with JESUS.  Taranda Greene, who sang with he gospel group the Greene's before her husband died,  posted on her FB site that it has been three years since her husband Tony went to be with JESUS.  They were married nine years...and got married on Valentines Day. She was funny, she said Tony always forgot special occasions so she  didn't miss not getting anything:). Tim Greene,Tony's brother we prayed for so long, was healed and continues to preach and sing the gospel all over the place http://www.thegreenesmusic.com/.  Thank you, LORD for answering our cries for Tim. 

  
        I mentioned above about a very special "Valentine's Party" that my sweet friend, Catherine Smith and her  children gave for the widow women and elderly women in her neighborhood  yesterday. I guess at 50...i am getting in the elderly range:). Catherine, a nurse practioner by college degree, stays home and  homeschools her precious children, which includes Josie, 3 who was born premature and has some difficult health challenges.   Catherine and her children made us homemade healthy treats, and served us as if we were at a fancy restaurant!  We had a wonderful time of fun, food, and fellowship because the love of CHRIST compelled this sweet family to minister to these ladies whose husbands and "valentines" of many years were no longer here. They invited several more, but some of the ladies were in the hospital...in fact,  3 of our friends were on Valentine's Day. 

  
  

  

  Valentine's Party for the elderly and widows

  
  

  
  

          Valentine's can be hard, when it seems as if the whole world around us is in love, getting flowers, and candy, and cards, and maybe our "Valentine," is no longer here to show us the love of CHRIST they once did...for whatever reason, it may be because of death, divorce, sickness, (a friend of mine's husband has been in the nursing home for over 10 years ) breakup in a relationship...or maybe your "Valentine," is like Tony and he forgets to get you something on those special days. There are many reason's that Valentine's can be difficult if we are honest....everyone wants to be loved and remembered by someone special. My husband's card and sweet words of encouragement were very dear to me, along with a little Teddy Bear Key chain he gave me....didn't cost a lot, but his words of encouragement meant the world to me.  He offered to get me roses, but i'm allergic to the fertilizer so we got his Mom roses and i told him i would just claim hers as mine too:).

  
  

      This morning i awoke  early and as i was praying,  I felt like the LORD was leading me to share with you some other words of encouragement I have been reading about GOD's love- HIS love for us, and HIS love through us. The older i grow in my relationship with CHRIST the more i come to understand the great love that GOD has for me and how He compels me to love others with HIS love. I call these "Valentines from GOD."
  
  

  
  

  "If love is always discreet, always wise, always sensible and calculating, never carried beyond itself, it is not love at all. It may be affection, it may be warmth of feeling, but it has not the true nature of love in it." Oswald Chambers

  
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7, 8 NLT)

  
  

  

  
  
  "The characteristic of love is spontaneity. In looking back we cannot tell why we did certain things, we did them according to the spontaneous nature of HIS love in us." Oswald Chambers

  
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  
  
  
  "Our modern idea of love is such a poor, weak, soupy, sentimental one-so far from the strong, pure, steel-like grip with which GOD's love holds us-and so far from the kind of love that you and I ought to have for GOD." Elisabeth Elliot,www.elisabethelliot.org

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  "Natural love expects some return, but Divine love says I do not care whether you love me or not, I am willing to destitute myself completely, not merely for your sake, but that I may get you to GOD." Oswald Chambers

  
  

  

  
  

  
  "Love is not a feeling. It is an overwhelming passion to help and bless and deliver and comfort and strengthen and give joy to others just as the LORD JESUS always did." Hannah Hurnard, Hinds Feet on High Places

  
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings (Psalm 17:7, 8 NIV)

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

     These are just a few "Valentines from GOD" that i have been meditating on this week as i spent time with HIM in my quiet time.   Early this morning, i came across a blog where the lady shared how she liked to receive the little candy hearts from her Mom when she was little that had the words, "love," "miss you, "kiss me," "i'm yours," etc. on them.  I used to like to get those too when i was younger.  She said she spoke at a retreat on the images of GOD and they explored the presence of GOD in the "grandeur and in the small stuff."  They looked at how GOD can be "mysteriously vague and astonishingly present through the people we love and who love us. She said that a bishop once told her that he considered "prayers of adoration our "Valentines to GOD," because we express our utter delight and fascination  with being cherished by a GOD whom we recognize in the smiles, hugs and "luv u" messages received from others. 

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  
  
     In the early morning hours that i read these words,  i thought  of the words that I have often heard Mrs. Betty Eudy  say after someone does something for her.  She exclaims, "That's a special blessing from the  LORD!"  Mrs. Eudy, a dear spiritual mother to me and i wrote about in my last blog, always sees GOD in the kindness of others  to her and recognizes and is thankful for  "Valentines from GOD."  http://mitzi-hisgraceissufficient.blogspot.com/2013/02/all-i-once-held-dear.html
  
  
  Seeing GOD's kindness in the acts of others and in their faces, helps us to cherish HIM and them is one way of giving "Valentines to GOD.  Taking time to spend with the "Lover of Our Soul,"  in HIS WORD and prayer daily is another way  we cherish HIM and make HIM glad.  These words from Charles Spurgeon from "Morning and Evening," Feb. 15 tell us how we cherish JESUS and make HIM glad:
  

  
  

  "Whereby they have made thee glad." — Psalms 45:8

  
  

  And who are thus privileged to make the Saviour glad? His church-his people. But is it possible? He makes us glad, but how can we make him glad? By our love. Ah! we think it so cold, so faint; and so, indeed, we must sorrowfully confess it to be, but it is very sweet to Christ. Hear his own eulogy of that love in the golden Canticle: "How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine!" See, loving heart, how he delights in you. When you lean your head on his bosom, you not only receive, but you give him joy; when you gaze with love upon his all-glorious face, you not only obtain comfort, but impart delight. Our praise, too, gives him joy-not the song of the lips alone, but the melody of the heart's deep gratitude. Our gifts, too, are very pleasant to him; he loves to see us lay our time, our talents, our substance upon the altar, not for the value of what we give, but for the sake of the motive from which the gift springs. To him the lowly offerings of his saints are more acceptable than the thousands of gold and silver. Holiness is like frankincense and myrrh to him. Forgive your enemy, and you make Christ glad; distribute of your substance to the poor, and he rejoices; be the means of saving souls, and you give him to see of the travail of his soul; proclaim his gospel, and you are a sweet savour unto him; go among the ignorant and lift up the cross, and you have given him honour. It is in your power even now to break the alabaster box, and pour the precious oil of joy upon his head, as did the woman of old, whose memorial is to this day set forth wherever the gospel is preached. Will you be backward then? Will you not perfume your beloved Lord with the myrrh and aloes, and cassia, of your heart's praise? Yes, ye ivory palaces, ye shall hear the songs of the saints!

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

       One more truth the blog i read this morning that struck my heart: a quote from the late Henri Nouwen that said,
  
  

    "The prerequisite to forgiveness is the knowledge that we are beloved by GOD.  Without it, we will never embrace the capacity within ourselves to both extend and receive mercy."  

  
  

     Whenever i am tempted to not forgive someone, GOD just has to remind me how very much HE has forgiven me, and that i have done the same thing and even worse, that others have done to me.  He takes my thought to the Cross of Calvary, the greatest "Valentine," of all from GOD, where HIS SON paid the price for my sins, and HE gives me the grace to forgive others with the mercy that i have been forgiven.       When CHRIST forgives us, we are forever changed.  We are not the same person that we were before...we have been born again, and HE fills our heart with HIS love for others.  As Charles Spurgeon said above, we make CHRIST glad  when we forgive others, and CHRIST unleashes HIS power of divine love  through us to love those who have sinned against us.
  
        I read a devotion a few days ago from the LOVE DARE devotion for couples that really spoke to me about HIS love that  fills our heart and puts HIS desires in our heart to reach others for HIM.  It was entitled, Love is Life's Motivator.
  
  

        For CHRIST's love compels us...2 Corinthians 5:14

  
  

   "Anger can fuel hatred in a man's heart until he feels like attacking his enemy.  But love can spark kindness in his heart so he lays down his life for his friend.  Selfishness can drive a woman to tighten her grip and hoard her resources. But love can inspire her to open her hands and give sacrificially.  Love is the purest and most powerful motivator.  It gives courage to a coward, wisdom to a fool.  

      When love invades your heart, you are empowered to endure deeper pain, willingly pay a greater cost, and run risks to your reputation for the sake of another.  Love causes a soldier to lay down his life for his country, a mother to pray relentlessly for her child, and a gracious GOD to send HIS only SON to die for our sins.  Love is that powerful.

       Paul the apostle endured beatings, intense persecution, and hardship throughout his life.  He did it for one reason alone:  "CHRIST's love" compelled him.  If love began fueling your decisions, what would it drive you to do for your marriage?"

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

     Without the love of CHRIST dwelling inside of us, we can never love the way it describes love in the passage above.  Even with CHRIST dwelling in me, i often sin and fall short of HIS love.  Just put your name where it says, "Love," and see if you are always patient, kind, etc.  I am not...but the love of CHRIST compels us to keep loving, when our love ends.  

  
  
  
  I heard a powerful song a few weeks called "Forgiveness" by Matthew West. It really spoke to me as i was going through a painful situation myself and was struggling to forgive someone.  I called my daughter and told her about the song  and she told me to be sure and listen to the story behind it on you tube....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz3tkHv5sbg. Now you have to listen to this powerful song that motivates us to seek GOD to "show me how love the unlovable, reach the unreachable, to do the impossible, forgiveness" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Lu5udXEZI
  
  

  
  

     
  

      Forgiveness by GOD's love and mercy through our LORD JESUS CHRIST  is the greatest Valentine we can receive...and give to others.  CHRIST forgives us for ALL of our sins that we might be HIS forever and HIS ambassador's of love to reach others with HIS compelling love.  Have you received CHRIST's forgiveness for your sins?  Come to HIM right now and ask HIM to forgive you and surrender your life to HIM.  HE is ready to forgive all who come to HIM.
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
         I hope these "Valentines from GOD" will help us  to understand the "strong, pure, steel-like"  love that CHRIST has for us and compel us to share HIS love with others.  HIS love is the sweetest of all, it never fails, it never grows weary or tired,  is always kind, always patient, pours itself out to the end, meets every need, and is always there for us.  HIS love reaches us in the hospital room, beside the grave, in the loneliness of our home or in a crowd, wherever we are HIS love is there with us.  HIS name is "Immanuel" GOD with us.   May we run to HIM to fill the  places in our hearts that no "valentine" on earth can fill.  Only HE can fill the empty places in our hearts with  HIS love and compel us "to love the unlovable, reach the unreachable,  and do the impossible, forgiveness." 

  
  

                                                               With all HIS love,

                                                                                                mitzi
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  

                 

  "Jesus Saves"                              

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPIc4UFwR0Y

  
  

"All I Once Held Dear"

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

        You all have been so very faithful to pray for my loved ones and i wanted to share with you how GOD has been faithful to answer your prayers for my dear friend, mentor, and spiritual mother Betty Eudy.  Two weeks ago, i sent out an "urgent" prayer request asking you to pray for Mrs. Eudy who was scheduled to have emergency surgery.   Many of you wrote me back and told me you were praying for Mrs. Eudy and how very grateful i am to you.  Mrs. Eudy has had numerous health challenges through the years, including being very sensitive to medications and has numerous food allergies.  When we were told she was going to have to have surgery, we knew she would be receiving numerous medications, including anesthesia, that could possibly be life threatening to her if she had a bad allergic reaction.  GOD heard the prayers of HIS children, and though Mrs. Eudy definitely has had some challenges, she has made it through her surgery remarkably well, and she continues to rehabilitate in one of our local facilities.  I praise GOD for answering your cries for her....thank you so much prayer warriors, and thank you, LORD JESUS.

     I left our church service tonight after i finished playing and decided to go by and see Mrs. Eudy in the place where she is in rehab. She was lying in her bed watching TV when i got there and had just finished supper.  While i was there the sweetest and prettiest young nurse (she reminded me of our dear daughter who is in her last semester of nursing school) came and helped her get ready for bed.  Once she got her "PJ's" on, we had the opportunity to have another sweet time of fellowship....one of many we have been able to have since she has been in the hospital and now rehabilitation.  We often talk about our children, church, ballgames (Mrs. Eudy is a HUGE sports fan-Alabama, Auburn, and Braves), but always our conversation comes back to the LORD....everything is centered in CHRIST with Mrs. Eudy, because HE is her life.  

    This past week the LORD helped me to remember the very first time i ever heard of this spiritual giant of a woman who has suffered in the flesh with physical illness over 30 years.  Johnny and i were engaged, and he was in a discipleship class at First Baptist.  Mrs. Eudy was in the class with Johnny and she gave him a set of tapes by Dr. John MacArthur,  www.gty.org on The Family.  I was attending the University of Montevallo at the time, and i can remember those cassette tapes sitting on my old dresser down there in my dorm room in Hanson...the oldest dorm on campus.  GOD used the teaching on those tapes to changed the direction of our family...even though we were not married yet.  I was in college pursuing a degree so i could have a career, and all of the sudden Dr. MacArthur  was teaching out of Titus 2 about being a homemaker, and the importance of a godly mother raising her children, and being "at home," to do that.  He didn't mean you are bound to the inside of your house all the time, but he meant making your family your "career," instead of working outside the home and trying to juggle a family too.  Some women certainly are in a position of not having a choice, but he taught us that GOD's pattern for the family is for the Mother to be a "full time," mom if possible, and invest your life in your family without the stressors of working outside the home.  So, that really set me and Johnny to thinking that's what we wanted me to do...to be able to stay home with the children.  GOD really blessed that "desire of our hearts," and blessed me with being home with our children. In my sickness, i didn't really have a choice, but, we were able to homeschool them, and because I was sick, it took away outside pressure to work outside the home.  
       GOD used Mrs. Eudy to introduce us to Dr. John MacArthur's biblical expository preaching, and GOD used his teaching greatly to disciple my husband and influence the way that he preached and taught the WORD of GOD.  When Johnny was in seminary, we had the privilege of hearing Dr. MacArthur speak at a Pastor's Conference in Richardson, Tx,.  GOD brought another tremendous blessing into our lives through that meeting- Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo, www.gfi.org  who were leading a parenting seminar at the Pastor's Conference.  Gary was on staff at John MacArthur's church at the time, and little did we know the blessing GOD had in store for us through that one little seminar we went to about parenting.  We didn't even have kids at the time, but Johnny bought their cassettes about training infants how to sleep through the night, and feed them on a flexible schedule instead of demand feeding.  Later when we got pregnant with John Mac we listened to their teaching and it helped us get him on a schedule and GOD eventually blessed us with more of their teaching for training our children and we were blessed to share that teaching with many young couples in our younger years....all this because Mrs. Betty Eudy shared John MacArthur with my husband in a Sunday night discipleship training class.  Amazing isn't it how GOD uses our lives to influence and impact others in ways we can't imagine for good and for bad.

     Mrs. Eudy introduced me to Elisabeth Elliot, www.elisabethelliot.org...who also became a huge spiritual mentor and mother to me.  I remember her telling me that Elisabeth Elliot was going to be speaking at the Tennessee Valley Women's Conference and i signed up to go.  I and a friend of mine followed Elisabeth Elliot around like a shadow soaking in everything we could at that conference. Funny, Elisabeth Elliot was very intimidating to me and not the easiest person to talk to one on one.  But when she spoke from the podium she was anointed with the Holy Spirit and the words of life GOD gave her fed our thirsty souls.   At that conference, this young wide eyed twenty  something year old was sitting on the front row listening to Elisabeth Elliot.  When Elisabeth got through speaking she came down and sat right beside me in the empty seat.  The conference leader asked us to turn to our right and massage the person's neck on our right...Elisabeth Elliot was on my right!  I was afraid to touch her and barely massaged her neck.  Then she said turn to your left and massage the person on your left...Elisabeth Elliot was massaging my neck now!  She had the firmest hands and gave me a great neck massage...later i read in one of her books that Jim Elliot's mom was a chiropractor and she had learned some things from her.  Funny, as i reflect on this...we named our son, John MacArthur, after Pastor John MacArthur, and we named our daughter, after Elisabeth Elliot...both spiritual mentor's that Mrs. Eudy introduced us too.

     Mrs. Eudy was a career woman herself when she got sick in her early 40's.  She had a bustling household with three children and she and her husband Eugene were in the midst of a busy life raising their children, working, ministering through their church, and taking care of their elderly parents.  Mrs. Eudy was Alabama's Young Woman of the Year, at one point.  She used to get up at 3:30 a.m. so she could have her quiet time and get everything done for her family before going to work as a professor at our local college.  She was beginning to work on her doctorate when GOD had another plan. Mrs. Eudy was bitten by a tick, and she got very, very sick.  Through numerous doctors,  she finally received a diagnosis, and was stabilized.  She was no longer able to teach and had to give up her career. Her life now was mostly at home, and when she was able she attended church.  Her husband and family cared for her now, instead of her being able to care for everyone as she once had.

    When i got sick, in my late 20's, Mrs. Eudy was there for me.  I remember calling her early in my sickness, bewildered by what GOD was doing to me.  She was always there for me, and she set a great example to me of how you can suffer and have a cheerful spirit.  She and her family always found a way to laugh at difficult circumstances and she is the epitome of the verse, "a cheerful heart is good medicine." 

  She became the greatest prayer warrior for our family praying for us so diligently through the years.  Who can know what our family and countless others, owe to her diligent and faithful prayers for us and our loves ones through the years.  Mrs. Eudy may have been limited physically in her ability to go and do like others, but GOD used her prayers to reach and move lives, including our family far, far beyond her four walls for all eternity.  

    When Mrs. Eudy gets out of rehab hopefully by the end of this week, she will be moving to Kentucky.  Her daughter has picked out a beautiful apartment for her in a CHRISTian facility, and she will be living close to her daughter now where her daughter and family  can help her easier.  In this time of transition, Mrs. Eudy has taught me more lessons...that of acceptance and trusting in the LORD.  It was difficult for her when she first learned she would be giving up her home, her church family, her bridge clubs, her beauty shop, and all that is familier to Mrs. Eudy to go and live in another place.  She called me when they first made the decision and it wasn't easy.  The origianl "plan" was to move her a couple of weeks ago, when GOD had a little detour planned, that of her emergency surgery.  During that time, her kids all came home and got their Mom's house ready to sell, and they have an offer on it possibly.  GOD has blessed us with Mrs. Eudy being in the hospital and rehab-because we have had time to go and spend with her before she moves on to the next place GOD has for her to love HIM and serve HIM.  GOD has also used this time to help Mrs. Eudy accept and trust HIM to do what is best for her life.  I have seen that transformation in her, and she has told me she has made a choice to be thankful and trust GOD.  I know those aren't just words...i can sense the acceptance and peace in her heart.  Tonight as i was tucking her in bed, and pulling the covers up over her shoulders, she looked at me and said, "I'm going to miss you, Mitzi."  With tears in my eyes, I  kissed her on the forehead and told her i am going to miss her too.   Then to lighten the moment i said," i am only a phone call away."  She laughed and said "yes, i'll be on Susan's plan now, and i can talk unlimited minutes" and we both laughed...she said, "Susan doesn't know how much i can talk on the phone!":). 

     I am so thankful i have another week to spend with this spiritual "giant," who has meant so much to me and my family and countless others, before the LORD moves her to minister to others, and to be ministered to by her family.  Please continue to remember Mrs. Eudy in your prayers as she waits on the LORD to renew her strength day by day, and as she leaves her home in Athens, for her home in Kentucky, on her way to her permanent home in heaven with CHRIST whom she has loved and served so very faithfully in sickness and in health.  

Mrs. Eudy with her son Michael on their annual family vacation last year.  The whole family gathers for a weekend of fun and fellowship over Memorial Day weekend at beautiful Joe Wheeler State Park...they've had this family tradition for years.

    Today at church, we sang this beautiful song called "All I Once Held Dear," by Robin Mark http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxpPIa-BskY.   It reminds me of Mrs. Eudy...and the TREASURE that she holds so dear in her frail body...the TREASURE of knowing JESUS CHRIST.  Her relationship with HIM has come at the loss of things she once held dear, but she will be the first to tell you, that HE is worth it all.   I hope you will take time to prayerfully listen to these words.   May the LORD use this song to draw each one of closer to HIM through the losses that each one of us goes through in this temporary life.  May our prayer truly be to "count all things loss for the sake of knowing CHRIST JESUS our LORD." If you don't know JESUS as your LORD and SAVIOR, you can ask HIM to forgive you for your sins today and invite HIM to come and live inside of you.  GOD loves you so much, HE sent JESUS to die for your sins and mine, that we might enjoy HIM now and forever.  He wants to have an intimate relationship with each one of us....HE loves us so much. 

    Thank you, dear prayer warriors for your continued prayers for Mrs. Eudy during her rehab and time of transition to her new home in Kentucky.  I love you and appreciate you so much.

                                                                                                With all HIS love,

                                                                                                   mitzi


--

               

"Jesus Saves"                              

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPIc4UFwR0Y