For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" Ester 4:14
Dear Friends,
One of my young friends recently wrote me and said, " Thank you for your weekly email, its almost like reading a newspaper.:) Because its sooo long, no offense but I'm glad God has given somebody the strength and courage to do this." I smiled and chuckled as I read this and she later wrote and asked me how long I had been writing my weekly emails. I told her it had been around 3 years now. Thank you for asking, dear one, and I appreciate your encouragement to me, even if these emails do seem like "reading a newspaper" to you. I'm quite sure you're not alone in your thoughts about that:). I started writing them at first to a friend during another "hurricane" in my life when my thinking and energy went south, or I should say went away. That is amazing that I started writing when I was having such a difficult time thinking...that in itself is the beautiful grace of GOD. Somewhere along the way, somehow it evolved (I'm not crazy about that word) into somewhat of a devotional...although they are usually too long for that, maybe some of you think of them as being a "Reader's Digest Condensed Book." Whatever these emails are to you, this morning, I just wanted to share my heart with you...not a devotion, just writing a letter from my heart to yours, thoughts I've been having about the new Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin. I know some of you, my dear friends, don't agree with me on this issue, and that's fine. I love you, we can differ and still love each other, Johnny and me do it all the time:).
A couple of weeks ago, Hannah Beth and I were getting ready to leave to go to my sister's wedding that afternoon a couple of hours away. Hannah Beth called me into the den to hear John McCain announce his vice president nominee. Well, that was the first I had ever heard of Sarah Palin, but certainly, as we all know by now, not the last. There was something about her that glued Hannah Beth and I both to the television as we learned about her just as ya'll that she was a point guard on her high school basketball team and so aggressive they called her Sarah "Barracuda." She was a beauty queen, runner up for Mrs. Alaska, a moose hunter, a "hockey Mom," a devoted wife and Mom, with five kids and the baby having Down's syndrome, as well as bold and courageous and fighting corruption in the Alaskan government, along with being in charge of our largest state with such vast energy resources...all these things I'm sure ya'll are quiet familiar with by now. We were so intrigued with her that we were almost late for the wedding practice because we were watching her on TV. That was even before she made the powerful speech at the Republican National Committee that my neighbor described her as "tough but endearing." Yes, that's a great way to describe her...bold, courageous, and endearing, there's just something about Sarah Palin that reaches into our hearts.
When I heard her story about how she had been a "hockey Mom" and then PTA leader, and then City Council, Mayor, and then Governor and heard her speak at the convention, I was struck by her as this is something more than just a "sharp lady pursuing political power." There was a power, and I believe the power of GOD upon her life that has "raised her up for such a time" as this, similar to the Old Testament story of Queen Ester, whom GOD raised up to deliver the Jews from being killed. As I said, I am just sharing my heart with you, what I perceive about Sarah Palin, her family and GOD's divine anointing and calling upon their lives...and it is a "their", because I believe HE's called her and her family and provided HIS grace for them as HE has for her and the unique doors HE has opened for to serve HIM. Before I heard that Sarah Palin loved JESUS CHRIST and heard that she and her husband were "for real" in their faith, I sensed GOD's power upon her life, as I know some of you have.
As you know, I have passed along several emails to some of you my dear friends and family sharing with you information about her faith and her church, people who know her and her family personally, and they have asked for prayer for her and her family and her church family to be protected by GOD during this difficult time. A friend of mine wrote me after i shared one of the emails with her. She said she was glad that I passed that along about Sarah Palin, because among some of her homeschool friends were afraid to speak out in support of her because Sarah Palin was a Mom with five kids and she didn't stay "at home," with them like the Bible teaches in Titus 2. All ya'll who know Johnny and me know that we have the same conviction about GOD calling Mom's to be home raising their children, whenever that is possible. But there are exception's to this, such as when a spouse dies, or divorce and the other partner has to provide for the family because the church isn't doing that (this is our role as a church family to provide for widows and their children), and sometimes the wife is needed to help out to make ends meet, not for luxuries but just to pay the bills. As I write, I am reminded of the great pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, who has received the Presidential Medal of freedom for his work as a surgeon and helping young people.. His Mom divorced when Ben was 8 and worked long hours to provide for her two boys...I don't think GOD condemned her for working outside the home, and HE provided HIS grace to help her raise those boys to be productive, godly citizens...one who has given so much to help others. Sarah Palin probably wouldn't fall into the category of needing to help ends meet, but it is my opinion, after seeing God's power upon her, and seeing the way her husband lays down his life to be there for their family as well as her, (like taking the baby to work with her and nursing it, kids streaming in and out of the office) I personally believe that this is someone special that GOD has called, prepared and anointed to help lead our country and uphold godly values "for such a time as this," even though she does have a family at home.
You know, when GOD calls us, and equips us and puts HIS desires in our hearts, and opens doors for us...it's not always understood by those around us. I think that as we have been allowed to see a peek into her life, we see these kids have two parents, and a large extended family, who loves them and sacrifices for them very much and as Governor Palin said, "I have a lot of helpers at home, my kids" ... and what an awesome education these kids have being the mayor's kids, the governor's kids, and now possibly the Vice President of the United States...opportunities that we home Mom's can only dream of for our kids. I am not on the Geraldine Ferraro bandwagon that says, "what would she do if she were home? She's too talented for that." No, I rolled my eyes when I heard that on a news interview...as a stay at home mom, I know there are endless ways to invest in your family, and endless ways to use the GOD given talents that GOD has gifted each of us with lay down our lives for our families. But, I also know that GOD calls us out to do the unusual sometimes to accomplish HIS plans and purposes...and in my opinion, this seems to be one of those times HE has done that. We see that over and over in the Bible...that "God's ways are higher than ours, and HIS thoughts are not our thoughts." In the Old Testament, GOD raised up men and women to deliver HIS people at times, and one of those was a woman named Deborah who was a Judge when the nation was ruled by judges instead of kings. Deborah, who story is found in Judges 4-5 was the only female Judge of Israel. She was also a prophet, and the wife of Lappidoth. We're not told if she had children or not. Her being used in that role versus a man was perhaps an indictment on the men that there were none godly enough to be used to deliver the children of GOD. Even so, GOD chose to use this woman to deliver HIS children. If you look at our country, and parallel it to the Israelites and their decline, I can certainly see some similarities...They had good kings, like King David, and then they would be followed by bad kings, and then a good king and finally GOD said enough, and allowed them to be taken away into Babylonian captivity for their sin where they remained for 70 years. I see a parallel in our country that GOD has allowed us to be led by good Presidents and not so good ones, and just when it looks like we're going down...He sends someone that most folks have never heard of, that HE raised up in a hidden place, (had you ever heard of Wasilla, Alaska before two weeks ago?)...with no political aspirations that we know of, it just seems she's been on this journey to make a difference, first in her children's public school through the PTA, and then in her hometown on the city council and mayor, then Governor, and now possibly the Vice President of the United States. It certainly doesn't seem to me that she had a lot of political aspirations to seek power. Instead it seems that she has a servant's heart, which she did mention in her acceptance speech for the Vice President nominee. I believe that she loves JESUS with all her heart and that HE has raised her up because of HIS love and mercy for us...HE is not through with the United States yet. I feel that instead of criticizing, we should be very grateful to GOD for raising up one such as her who is not afraid to speak out against evil, and stand for good, one who has already inspired and put boldness in the hearts of those around her to do the same. I for one have been inspired by her courageousness and for her love for her family. GOD doesn't always call us to the comfortable, usually HE doesn't...and certainly this place HE has called Sarah Palin and her family to walk is not always comfortable...in fact, this place of the Vice Presidency would be downright difficult to have every move of your family life scrutinized by the whole world. During her acceptance speech, the boldness and confidence she addressed the media was amazing to me... that to me was an indication she was something special anointed by GOD "for such a time as this." Interesting, that's something the Pharisees marveled about JESUS that HE spoke with such authority, and who could deny that Sarah Palin spoke with authority. I read a Proverb shortly after that I had never noticed before that said, "But those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, And a good blessing will come to them." Proverb 24:25...Sarah Palin's speech and leadership in Alaska came to my mind.
Who among us does not realize that as a country we deserve judgment for our gross sinfulness, but GOD in HIS mercy seemingly keeps staying the hand of HIS wrath upon us. I for one was really delighted when it seemed that HE raised up Sarah Palin out of nowhere (can any good thing come out of Nazareth), to be Vice President on the Republican ticket. Before she came on the scene, it sure did look like our country's leadership was a dismal pick, now all of the sudden there is hope and a new light flickering for those who have conservative CHRISTian values. I just hate to see us divided over this one whom GOD certainly seems to have HIS grace and hand upon, including her whole family. The way they have handled the pressure of these "hurricanes" that have blown against their family these past few weeks has been a demonstration of the grace of GOD, who could deny that. Who among us would have the courage to handle the pregnancy issue the way their family did with grace and forgiveness in front of the world. Not only did they not hide the fact that their daughter made a mistake, which they very well could have hidden in the form of an abortion, but they shared their pain with us, and their daughter and boyfriend courageously stood in front of all of us to see. What a picture of GOD's forgiving grace in all of our lives. HE doesn't throw us away when we sin and mess up. Instead as we come to HIM in forgiveness, with repentant hearts, HE redeems our sins, and works them out for good...and you just watch and see how HE is working all of these things in Sarah Palin's family for good, not just theirs, but ours, as they have been so open and shared their lives with ours. Their courage inspires us to "be strong and courageous" and that is how the body of CHRIST works.
I keep in my devotion book a quote from Springs in the Valley that says, " Are you not willing to endure scars in order to liberate souls?" This quote reminds me to be willing to sacrifice and be hurt in order to lead people to CHRIST and be set free from the bondage of sin. Amy Carmichael wrote a poem called "Hast Thou No Scar" about being willing to endure scars that others may come to CHRIST. I see Sarah Palin and her family willing to endure "scars" that the American people may continue to enjoy the freedoms that we have at the cost of those who have gone before us. John Jay, the very first Supreme Court Justice said: " Americans should select and prefer CHRISTians as their rulers." He felt that only CHRISTians should be elected to serve in office, to honor GOD and ensure that our CHRISTian freedoms would be protected... freedoms preserved by our men and women in the military who have laid down their lives for us...who have the scars that we might be free. GOD doesn't always call us to the comfortable, usually HE doesn't..I think about Hannah, in the Old Testament and the suffering she went through while waiting on GOD to give her a child. Then GOD blessed her with Samuel she had prayed for, and after weaning him, she took him to the temple for the priest Eli to raise him so he could become a priest. We conservative CHRISTian parents certainly wouldn't think that was the best for our kids, they need to be at home with their Mom, but that's what GOD allowed, and certainly HE was leading Hannah in her paths after she had prayed and hoped and desired for this little one so very much. I think of Mary, and the virgin birth, and she was engaged to Joseph...what "scars," and ridicule she endured that she might carry the SON of GOD inside her as people talked about her pregnancy...who would have believed that she was a virgin carrying the SON of GOD? Instead of a nice place to deliver her son, GOD had them traveling to Bethlehem, to fulfill prophecy (and GOD used common circumstances to do that, a census was being taken) and give birth to the KING of KINGS in a stable or cave. JESUS HIMself, who left HIS home in heaven, and lived a common life, serving, pouring out HIS life day after day, was willing to endure the scars folks mocking him, condemning him, and eventually beating him and nailing him to a cross, in order to liberate our souls from sin. This place HE has called Sarah Palin and her family to walk is not an easy place and I want to encourage you my sister's in CHRIST, and a few brothers reading this:), before you cast stones at her for not staying home with her family, look at the wander of what GOD seems to be doing through her and her family, and pray for them instead of condemning them. We CHRISTians, especially conservative ones, are the world's worst at kicking and wounding our own soldiers...I hope you'll join me in praying for Sarah and her family, and her church family, and watch in wonder at what GOD does through this one HE seems to have raised up, "for such a time as this." Then we can explain to our daughter's that sometimes GOD does things we don't always understand, but HE knows what HE's about to carry out HIS sovereign purposes..."His ways are higher than ours and HIS thoughts are not our thoughts..."
I've shared several times lately this verse from Jeremiah 10:23, "I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for a man to direct his steps." If we believe this to be true, and realize that GOD sometimes calls us to do the out of the ordinary, then we should extend the same grace to our brother's and sister's in CHRIST that GOD calls to a different path than the one HE has called us to walk. I for one am very thankful that HE has raised up Sarah Palin and her family "for such a time as this," and will support her and her family with my prayers now and with my vote in November.
I love you all, and yes, I do expect to hear from you on this one:). I mean no harm, I desire to help you think about her calling perhaps being from GOD instead of being out of GOD's will...where GOD guides HE provides, and HIS grace is sufficient for Sarah Palin's family just as it is our family. I want to ask you again my dear friends to pray for her and her family during this difficult time, and thank GOD for raising up someone who loves CHRIST and is who is bold and courageous to stand for what we believe and for what our Founding Father's believed. May we encourage her and her family as they sacrifice for us, and not be critical and shoot our own. Please also remember those who are in the path of the hurricane this weekend, including my brother's family who lives near Houston. Thank you so much for all your dear prayers and your dear love in CHRIST.
With all HIS love,
mitzi
It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to the ALMIGHTY BEING who rules over the universe, who presides in councils of nations and whose providential aids can supply ever human defect....No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand, which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency....
President George Washington at his first Inaugural Address, August 30, 1789
NO SCAR?
"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
Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land;
I hear them hail thy bright, ascendant star.
Hast thou no scar?
Hast thou no wound?
Yet I was wounded by the archers; spent,
Leaned Me against a tree to die; and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed Me, I swooned.
Hast thou no wound?
No wound? No scar?
Yet, as the Master shall the servant be,
And piercèd are the feet that follow Me.
But thine are whole; can he have followed far
Who hast no wound or scar?
BY AMY CARMICHAEL
Missionary to India who suffered much -- and bore much eternal fruit.
Back in the 1920s, Amy rescued hundreds of orphaned children -- especially little girls that would be dedicated to Hindu gods for use in sexual temple rituals. By God's wonderful grace, some had miraculously escaped from such pagan slavery and were led to the Irish "mother" who lovingly cared for each child God sent her.
In 1931 she prayed, “God, please do with me whatever you want. Do anything that will help me to serve you better.”
That same day, she fell, suffering fractures that would cripple her for the rest of her life.
Not one to be discouraged or bitter when faced with pain or persecution, Amy now had the opportunity to demonstrate God's faithfulness before a much larger "host" of witnesses. While her growing children had continual freedom to enter her bedroom and share their hearts with their beloved "mother," she now had the quiet times that allowed her to write books, poems, and letters that were translated and shared around the world. "Great is Thy faithfulness," O Lord!
"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross..." Hebrews 12:1-2
Friday, September 12, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
"A Happy Trouble"
"For I know WHOM I have believed, and am persuaded that HE is able to keep that which I have committed unto HIM against that day." 1Timothy 1:12
Dear Friends,
This past Monday was Labor Day...the day Hurricane Gustov was destined to hit the coast near New Orleans around 9:00 a.m. After getting up, and throwing a load of clothes in the washer, I grabbed my Bible, loaded my boat and headed to the river. I wasn't too sure about the weather , but when I got to the river, the sun was shining and the water was as still as could be. I wasn't concerned anymore about the weather except for those in the path of the hurricane down south. I got my boat unloaded and into the water and realized I had forgotten my life jacket. I have never done that before. It wasn't a good feeling to be without my life jacket, but I decided to go ahead and go for it and paddled to my favorite spot. When I arrived at the log where I couldn't go any farther without crawling over it, I pulled out my Bible and began reading it in my boat. As I read, the wind started blowing briskly in the trees overhead. I thought, wow, that must be some of the outer bands of the hurricane blowing. After a while, I decided to head on back, and while I was paddling the wind blew my cap off while I was still in Big Creek...that worried me a little bit, since it was more protected by the hills beside it, and I thought I better get on in before the wind gets worse. Thankfully, the wind was behind my back, which was most unusual, I usually paddle against the wind on my way back. But because of the hurricane, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction Monday morning. The wind actually helped to blow me back to my destination, against the current, and after a while and no incidents,I thankfully arrived safely back at shore.
On my way home from the river, my Dad called and asked me what I was up to that morning. He gently scolded me for going paddling alone again, and invited our family over that evening to celebrate my Mom's 78th birthday ( if you're keeping up with these emails, I mistakenly said a while back my Mom was 78, I goofed:) and my 46th birthday. We were born 3 days apart, my Mom on August 30 and me on September 2nd, 32 years apart. We gathered at my Mom and Dad's around 4:30 p.m. that afternoon and they had already cut up tomatoes and onions and boiled corn from the garden, baked beans and had quite a spread on the table. My Dad grilled out hamburgers and hotdogs, yummy, and later we had a delicious white cake my Daddy had made, with some Banana Split ice cream to celebrate. My brother Ralph and his wife, Wendy was there, along with their son, Daniel ,who recently finished serving 6 years in the Marines. My sis and her new hubby were out cruising somewhere in the Caribbean dodging tropical storms on their honeymoon. My other brother and his family already had made other plans, and my brother and his family in Texas...well they didn't make the party either. We sure missed ya'll. By the way, thank you all my dear brother's and sisters for all your birthday cards to me, your calls, your email from your honeymoon Jill, and coming by to see me, Ralph...ya'll are great, I love you, and I am so thankful GOD gave me such a special family. What a special blessing that at almost 82, my Dad is still able to grill out for our family, and he and Mom love us so much and continue to lay down their lives for us after all these years. When we got ready to leave, the kids and I got in the Yukon and I asked them if they thanked Grandmother and Granddaddy for the meal. At 16 and 18, I still check up on their manners when I have mind enough to ask them. They assured me they did, and I guess I was thinking about that...when I began backing up and then a sickening familiar sound-crash! We came to an abrupt stop. The look on my kids face, and the "oh no's" said it all...I had backed into my nephew's new 2008 Mitsubishi Eclipse, a really nice car. I didn't just back into the bumper, the car was behind me to the left, I hit the passenger door and frame for the front fender...where both will probably have to be replaced. This immediately caused quite a stir. My sister-in-law who was standing nearby offered to go in and tell her son for me, which she did, and when he came out, here came the rest of the family, except my Mom who couldn't bear to see the damage. My nephew came out and after seeing the damage was so very gracious about me backing into his car. After my brother, nephew, and Dad assessed the damage, I made the decision to call my husband and let him know of my latest fender bender...I say latest because this is the second time this year I have backed into a car without looking. A few months ago, I was at my Mother-in-law's, again with my kid's and some of their friends in the car, and backed into a young man's new truck...didn't even think about looking behind me, as I was talking pretty sternly to my son at the time about something that happened inside. Then, a couple of years ago, I was in my husband's truck at night, and I turned into a fire hydrant in the parking lot of a gas station, crunching his front fender...that was an expensive kayaking trip. That accident happened after I backed the Yukon into my friend's brick wall in her driveway, yakking as I backed out... which happened after I backed into my husband's truck in our driveway when his truck was new. And I haven't even told you about the times I've gotten stuck in the mud, and the river in my husband's truck and had to be pulled out. Our body shop man just grins when he sees us coming...it's humbling. We've put his kids through college with my accidents...just kidding. So when I called my husband, who had stayed home because of a bad headache, he wasn't too "happy" to hear about my latest escapade. On the way home, I was trying to soothe myself, and the verse came to my mind "In everything give thanks for this is the will of GOD in CHRIST JESUS concerning you,"I Thessalonians 5:18 and "All things work together for good for those who love the LORD, for those who are called according to HIS purposes." Romans 8:28. Sure would have been nice if these same verses had come to my husband's mind...but they didn't seem to that night, in fact, I think his headache got a lot worse.
The day before this little accident happened I read a great devotion in Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening that really spoke to my heart and I knew I wanted to share it with you. It was so timely...with what was going on with our weather with Hurricane Gustov earlier in the week, and as I write tropical storm Hanna, Ike, and Josephine, loom on the horizon. Charles Spurgeon talked in his devotion about seasons of great trial, not the little trials that I spoke of above, but those that shake your foundation to the very core of your soul, and those hurricanes, and storms just seem to blow in one right after the other. Our family had a year like that in 1992 when one storm after the other blew our way. John Mac was 2 and Hannah Beth was a newborn. I started having incapacitating pain in my back that gradually stiffened my muscles so much it felt like they were too small for my body. I began having severe allergic reactions, and developed searing pain all over my body while taking Prednisone for the allergic reactions. In the midst of this storm, where my emotions where stretched to where they had never been stretched before, my husband and I made the painful decision to resign the church he was pastoring so we could move back home and have more help with our babies...and it was painful, we loved our flock. Once we returned home, the kids and I lived with my Mom and Dad until my husband could work a couple of more weeks and get us moved. During that time, when I was still in searing pain, which continued for several more months...,my 2 month old baby girl, developed breathing problems, and almost died before the doctors were able to find what was causing it, a growth growing across her windpipe. She was in Children's Hospital in Birmingham, heavily sedated, while they tried to shrink the growth with Prednisone...the same medicine that had set me on searing fire. This was a tough decision for us...but our backs were to the wall. The medicine worked for a couple of months and then one day I was feeding her and she began having complications. I called the doctor and he urged us to get her back to the hospital immediately in Birmingham, an hour and a half away. She ended up having surgery, a very dangerous one, to remove the growth from her windpipe. Thankfully she didn't have to have the tracheotomy to breathe they thought she was going into the surgery. I was still very sick during this time, and each day was putting one foot in front of the other and surviving for me. My husband went from being a pastor to being in the restaurant business with his family, which honestly I think I thought I was above. But my husband's family had worked hard to help my husband and I during our seminary years, and while we lived on the pastor's salary of a small church. Now we were coming home and GOD was giving us the opportunity to help them. I realize now, that I was prideful about that...the LORD sure has had to work in my heart through the hurricanes HE allowed in our lives to humble me and help me learn to trust HIM and HIS plans for our lives. I remember one night laying in the floor with terrible pain all over my body and my back muscles were literally like bars of iron they were so stiff. My babies were asleep, my husband was at work, and I picked up my "Streams in the Desert" that was lying beside in the floor where I lay in pain. The reading that day talked about GOD bringing us to our "wits end," so that we will cry out to HIM, and HE will show HIMSELF so strong in our lives to rescue and deliver us. Psalm 107:25-31 says,
"For HE commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea. Those aboard mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the deeps; their courage melts away because of their plight. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end-all their wisdom has come to nothing. Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble, and HE brings them out of their distresses. HE hushes the storm to a calm, and HE brings them to their desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the [and confess to] the LORD HIS goodness and loving-kindness, and HIS wonderful works to the children of men!
Some of you are kind to say I have a good outlook through my trials or that I have a strong faith. I don't, always, believe me...I get discouraged just like you. I know what it is for the LORD to "command and raise the stormy wind and lift up the waves of the sea," and for my "courage to melt away because of my plight." I have been to my "wits end" on more than one occasion and it is a humbling place to be. I know this, that my GOD heard my cries to HIM at my "wits end," HE delivered our family from that year of hurricanes, changed forever, and I praise HIM...for HIS deliverances then, and for thousands of times since... yes I do! I am so very grateful for the doctors the LORD raised up to deliver Hannah Beth from suffocating to death and for my dear doctors (www.ehcd.com) that GOD has raised up to help deliver me . Yes, I continue to have a thorn in the flesh, but I am thankful that HE gives me enough struggles to keep me leaning on HIM, and learning that "HIS grace is sufficient and HIS power is made perfect in my weakness,"II Corinthians 12:9. Those strong winds that blew in 1992 helped to blow me closer to my LORD JESUS and grow my faith in HIM. I know those hurricane force winds will come again in our lives. Like the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina three years ago expedited the evacuation efforts and prevented the loss of lives this time, I know the lessons the LORD has taught me in past "hurricanes," will help me to cling to HIM, trust HIM and drive me even closer to HIM the next time... "for I know WHOM I have believed, and am persuaded that HE is able to keep that which I have committed unto HIM against that day." 1Timothy 1:12
As a young pastor's wife, in my foolish pride, I thought I knew everything I needed to know about JESUS, but I didn't know HIM as I know HIM now. I know now, that HE is able to deliver me when there seems to be no way, that HE will make a way, and in the process, reveal HIS sweet love to me. I know now, that HE has plans for me and my family, that I may not understand, but they are "plans for good and not for evil,"Jeremiah 29:11, to fulfill what HE has created each of us to accomplish..."HE who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion,"Phil.1:6. I know now HE is sovereign over everything and HE directs our paths, when we have no idea what HE is up to..."Trust in the LORD with all thine heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge HIM and HE will direct your paths" Proverbs 3:5-6. Now I realize I have only begun to know HIM, and the depth of HIS love for me...a love that gave HIS life on the cross for me,a love that rescues me when I am at my "wits end," a love that draws me to HIM in my "Happy Troubles" and transforms my troubles to give me joy...a joy the world cannot comprehend. I catch glimpses of HIM, and bigger glimpses when HE allows the strong winds to blow in my life....they are indeed "Happy Troubles" that blow me to HIM. These winds of trial have taught me to lean on HIM, my ROCK, my STRONG TOWER, and that indeed HE is faithful to deliver me from all my troubles as it shares in Psalms 34:6, "This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; HE saved HIM out of all his troubles."
After 16 years, we are still in the restaurant business, and GOD has helped me to learn to accept where HE has blown us and be grateful for what HE has supplied through our family to provide our needs. I praise HIM for what HE has worked in our lives through the storms that blow us to HIM to help us love HIM and know HIM more intimately...and I know this, too, I don't want to be caught in the "hurricanes of life, on the stormy seas" without my "LIFE" jacket, JESUS CHRIST. HE is my Deliverer, not just from the storms of life, but more importantly, HE paid the price on Calvary for my sins and yours, to rescue and deliver us from the fiery and everlasting flames of Hell. John 3:16 says, "For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only begotten SON that whosoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." I know that this world and it's "storms" are passing away, and my SAVIOR and everlasting life in Heaven awaits me after my journey through earth is over...the storms of life are blowing me to my eternal Destination, safe in the arms of JESUS.
In that devotion that was so spoke to my heart so deeply last Sunday, Charles Spurgeon shared about the"Happy Troubles" that blow us to JESUS:
"In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father's arms, and is blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but his God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than at any other time.
Oh, tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father! Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to, see that thou puttest thy full confidence in Him. Dishonour not thy Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and fears; but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee. Show rich men how rich thou art in thy poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how strong thou art in thy weakness when underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as He built the heavens and the earth, glorify Himself in thy weakness, and magnify His might in the midst of thy distress. The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. "
Reading this devotion got me to thinking about indeed how happy my troubles have been when they have blown me to the arms of my dear SAVIOR. I forget in the midst of my trials sometime that this trouble I'm experiencing is the very thing that my FATHER is using to blow me closer to HIM...so therefore it is "A Happy Trouble."
When my brothers and sister and I were growing up, my Dad and Mom took us to church each Sunday morning. Often, my Mom did not feel like going due to her own battles with her chronic health issues that began when she was pregnant with me and continue to this day...but often she went anyway, and then fixed a big meal for lunch afterwards. My Mom and Dad knew the force of those hurricane winds that blew when my Mom had to spend six months in a hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, when I was four. With seven mouths to feed, one breadwinner, and money "taking wings" for medical bills, my Dad and Mom learned that GOD was faithful to our family, as HE supplied all our needs in CHRIST JESUS. One of my favorite songs I learned growing up in that Methodist church we attended was "The Solid Rock." JESUS is the Solid Rock and I know that my ANCHOR, JESUS CHRIST, has held me and my family in the midst of our hurricanes and stormy seas, and HE will continue to until HE takes us home to be with HIM where there won't be any more storms.
Well, I don't know if my husband has found the "Happy" part of me crashing into my nephew's car yet...but somewhere GOD is using it for good. Maybe it just happened to use for this week's email:)...I'm so sorry, Daniel, for crashing your car. Thank you for the grace you have shown me. Thankfully, GOD doesn't waste any of our troubles, including me crashing my nephew's new sports car...and I am very happy about that.
With all HIS love,
mitzi
Thank you, my dear friends for your birthday wishes to me. Your emails, writing on my "wall", and your cards encouraged me so much. What a dear blessing you are to me...thank you, each one of you, for showing GOD's love to me on my birthday...and by the way, thank you so much for asking me to pray for you, I count it an honor and a privilege to lift you and your requests up to the LORD.
"The Solid Rock" by Edward Mote
My hope is built on nothing less than JESUS' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on JESUS' name.
When darkness seems to hide HIS face, I rest on HIS unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale, my ANCHOR hold within the veil.
His oath, HIS covenant, HIS blood Supports me in the whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way, HE then is all my hope and stay.
When HE shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in HIM be found;
Dressed in HIS righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne.
Chorus:
On CHRIST the solid ROCK, I stand All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
Dear Friends,
This past Monday was Labor Day...the day Hurricane Gustov was destined to hit the coast near New Orleans around 9:00 a.m. After getting up, and throwing a load of clothes in the washer, I grabbed my Bible, loaded my boat and headed to the river. I wasn't too sure about the weather , but when I got to the river, the sun was shining and the water was as still as could be. I wasn't concerned anymore about the weather except for those in the path of the hurricane down south. I got my boat unloaded and into the water and realized I had forgotten my life jacket. I have never done that before. It wasn't a good feeling to be without my life jacket, but I decided to go ahead and go for it and paddled to my favorite spot. When I arrived at the log where I couldn't go any farther without crawling over it, I pulled out my Bible and began reading it in my boat. As I read, the wind started blowing briskly in the trees overhead. I thought, wow, that must be some of the outer bands of the hurricane blowing. After a while, I decided to head on back, and while I was paddling the wind blew my cap off while I was still in Big Creek...that worried me a little bit, since it was more protected by the hills beside it, and I thought I better get on in before the wind gets worse. Thankfully, the wind was behind my back, which was most unusual, I usually paddle against the wind on my way back. But because of the hurricane, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction Monday morning. The wind actually helped to blow me back to my destination, against the current, and after a while and no incidents,I thankfully arrived safely back at shore.
On my way home from the river, my Dad called and asked me what I was up to that morning. He gently scolded me for going paddling alone again, and invited our family over that evening to celebrate my Mom's 78th birthday ( if you're keeping up with these emails, I mistakenly said a while back my Mom was 78, I goofed:) and my 46th birthday. We were born 3 days apart, my Mom on August 30 and me on September 2nd, 32 years apart. We gathered at my Mom and Dad's around 4:30 p.m. that afternoon and they had already cut up tomatoes and onions and boiled corn from the garden, baked beans and had quite a spread on the table. My Dad grilled out hamburgers and hotdogs, yummy, and later we had a delicious white cake my Daddy had made, with some Banana Split ice cream to celebrate. My brother Ralph and his wife, Wendy was there, along with their son, Daniel ,who recently finished serving 6 years in the Marines. My sis and her new hubby were out cruising somewhere in the Caribbean dodging tropical storms on their honeymoon. My other brother and his family already had made other plans, and my brother and his family in Texas...well they didn't make the party either. We sure missed ya'll. By the way, thank you all my dear brother's and sisters for all your birthday cards to me, your calls, your email from your honeymoon Jill, and coming by to see me, Ralph...ya'll are great, I love you, and I am so thankful GOD gave me such a special family. What a special blessing that at almost 82, my Dad is still able to grill out for our family, and he and Mom love us so much and continue to lay down their lives for us after all these years. When we got ready to leave, the kids and I got in the Yukon and I asked them if they thanked Grandmother and Granddaddy for the meal. At 16 and 18, I still check up on their manners when I have mind enough to ask them. They assured me they did, and I guess I was thinking about that...when I began backing up and then a sickening familiar sound-crash! We came to an abrupt stop. The look on my kids face, and the "oh no's" said it all...I had backed into my nephew's new 2008 Mitsubishi Eclipse, a really nice car. I didn't just back into the bumper, the car was behind me to the left, I hit the passenger door and frame for the front fender...where both will probably have to be replaced. This immediately caused quite a stir. My sister-in-law who was standing nearby offered to go in and tell her son for me, which she did, and when he came out, here came the rest of the family, except my Mom who couldn't bear to see the damage. My nephew came out and after seeing the damage was so very gracious about me backing into his car. After my brother, nephew, and Dad assessed the damage, I made the decision to call my husband and let him know of my latest fender bender...I say latest because this is the second time this year I have backed into a car without looking. A few months ago, I was at my Mother-in-law's, again with my kid's and some of their friends in the car, and backed into a young man's new truck...didn't even think about looking behind me, as I was talking pretty sternly to my son at the time about something that happened inside. Then, a couple of years ago, I was in my husband's truck at night, and I turned into a fire hydrant in the parking lot of a gas station, crunching his front fender...that was an expensive kayaking trip. That accident happened after I backed the Yukon into my friend's brick wall in her driveway, yakking as I backed out... which happened after I backed into my husband's truck in our driveway when his truck was new. And I haven't even told you about the times I've gotten stuck in the mud, and the river in my husband's truck and had to be pulled out. Our body shop man just grins when he sees us coming...it's humbling. We've put his kids through college with my accidents...just kidding. So when I called my husband, who had stayed home because of a bad headache, he wasn't too "happy" to hear about my latest escapade. On the way home, I was trying to soothe myself, and the verse came to my mind "In everything give thanks for this is the will of GOD in CHRIST JESUS concerning you,"I Thessalonians 5:18 and "All things work together for good for those who love the LORD, for those who are called according to HIS purposes." Romans 8:28. Sure would have been nice if these same verses had come to my husband's mind...but they didn't seem to that night, in fact, I think his headache got a lot worse.
The day before this little accident happened I read a great devotion in Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening that really spoke to my heart and I knew I wanted to share it with you. It was so timely...with what was going on with our weather with Hurricane Gustov earlier in the week, and as I write tropical storm Hanna, Ike, and Josephine, loom on the horizon. Charles Spurgeon talked in his devotion about seasons of great trial, not the little trials that I spoke of above, but those that shake your foundation to the very core of your soul, and those hurricanes, and storms just seem to blow in one right after the other. Our family had a year like that in 1992 when one storm after the other blew our way. John Mac was 2 and Hannah Beth was a newborn. I started having incapacitating pain in my back that gradually stiffened my muscles so much it felt like they were too small for my body. I began having severe allergic reactions, and developed searing pain all over my body while taking Prednisone for the allergic reactions. In the midst of this storm, where my emotions where stretched to where they had never been stretched before, my husband and I made the painful decision to resign the church he was pastoring so we could move back home and have more help with our babies...and it was painful, we loved our flock. Once we returned home, the kids and I lived with my Mom and Dad until my husband could work a couple of more weeks and get us moved. During that time, when I was still in searing pain, which continued for several more months...,my 2 month old baby girl, developed breathing problems, and almost died before the doctors were able to find what was causing it, a growth growing across her windpipe. She was in Children's Hospital in Birmingham, heavily sedated, while they tried to shrink the growth with Prednisone...the same medicine that had set me on searing fire. This was a tough decision for us...but our backs were to the wall. The medicine worked for a couple of months and then one day I was feeding her and she began having complications. I called the doctor and he urged us to get her back to the hospital immediately in Birmingham, an hour and a half away. She ended up having surgery, a very dangerous one, to remove the growth from her windpipe. Thankfully she didn't have to have the tracheotomy to breathe they thought she was going into the surgery. I was still very sick during this time, and each day was putting one foot in front of the other and surviving for me. My husband went from being a pastor to being in the restaurant business with his family, which honestly I think I thought I was above. But my husband's family had worked hard to help my husband and I during our seminary years, and while we lived on the pastor's salary of a small church. Now we were coming home and GOD was giving us the opportunity to help them. I realize now, that I was prideful about that...the LORD sure has had to work in my heart through the hurricanes HE allowed in our lives to humble me and help me learn to trust HIM and HIS plans for our lives. I remember one night laying in the floor with terrible pain all over my body and my back muscles were literally like bars of iron they were so stiff. My babies were asleep, my husband was at work, and I picked up my "Streams in the Desert" that was lying beside in the floor where I lay in pain. The reading that day talked about GOD bringing us to our "wits end," so that we will cry out to HIM, and HE will show HIMSELF so strong in our lives to rescue and deliver us. Psalm 107:25-31 says,
"For HE commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea. Those aboard mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the deeps; their courage melts away because of their plight. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end-all their wisdom has come to nothing. Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble, and HE brings them out of their distresses. HE hushes the storm to a calm, and HE brings them to their desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the [and confess to] the LORD HIS goodness and loving-kindness, and HIS wonderful works to the children of men!
Some of you are kind to say I have a good outlook through my trials or that I have a strong faith. I don't, always, believe me...I get discouraged just like you. I know what it is for the LORD to "command and raise the stormy wind and lift up the waves of the sea," and for my "courage to melt away because of my plight." I have been to my "wits end" on more than one occasion and it is a humbling place to be. I know this, that my GOD heard my cries to HIM at my "wits end," HE delivered our family from that year of hurricanes, changed forever, and I praise HIM...for HIS deliverances then, and for thousands of times since... yes I do! I am so very grateful for the doctors the LORD raised up to deliver Hannah Beth from suffocating to death and for my dear doctors (www.ehcd.com) that GOD has raised up to help deliver me . Yes, I continue to have a thorn in the flesh, but I am thankful that HE gives me enough struggles to keep me leaning on HIM, and learning that "HIS grace is sufficient and HIS power is made perfect in my weakness,"II Corinthians 12:9. Those strong winds that blew in 1992 helped to blow me closer to my LORD JESUS and grow my faith in HIM. I know those hurricane force winds will come again in our lives. Like the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina three years ago expedited the evacuation efforts and prevented the loss of lives this time, I know the lessons the LORD has taught me in past "hurricanes," will help me to cling to HIM, trust HIM and drive me even closer to HIM the next time... "for I know WHOM I have believed, and am persuaded that HE is able to keep that which I have committed unto HIM against that day." 1Timothy 1:12
As a young pastor's wife, in my foolish pride, I thought I knew everything I needed to know about JESUS, but I didn't know HIM as I know HIM now. I know now, that HE is able to deliver me when there seems to be no way, that HE will make a way, and in the process, reveal HIS sweet love to me. I know now, that HE has plans for me and my family, that I may not understand, but they are "plans for good and not for evil,"Jeremiah 29:11, to fulfill what HE has created each of us to accomplish..."HE who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion,"Phil.1:6. I know now HE is sovereign over everything and HE directs our paths, when we have no idea what HE is up to..."Trust in the LORD with all thine heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge HIM and HE will direct your paths" Proverbs 3:5-6. Now I realize I have only begun to know HIM, and the depth of HIS love for me...a love that gave HIS life on the cross for me,a love that rescues me when I am at my "wits end," a love that draws me to HIM in my "Happy Troubles" and transforms my troubles to give me joy...a joy the world cannot comprehend. I catch glimpses of HIM, and bigger glimpses when HE allows the strong winds to blow in my life....they are indeed "Happy Troubles" that blow me to HIM. These winds of trial have taught me to lean on HIM, my ROCK, my STRONG TOWER, and that indeed HE is faithful to deliver me from all my troubles as it shares in Psalms 34:6, "This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; HE saved HIM out of all his troubles."
After 16 years, we are still in the restaurant business, and GOD has helped me to learn to accept where HE has blown us and be grateful for what HE has supplied through our family to provide our needs. I praise HIM for what HE has worked in our lives through the storms that blow us to HIM to help us love HIM and know HIM more intimately...and I know this, too, I don't want to be caught in the "hurricanes of life, on the stormy seas" without my "LIFE" jacket, JESUS CHRIST. HE is my Deliverer, not just from the storms of life, but more importantly, HE paid the price on Calvary for my sins and yours, to rescue and deliver us from the fiery and everlasting flames of Hell. John 3:16 says, "For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only begotten SON that whosoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." I know that this world and it's "storms" are passing away, and my SAVIOR and everlasting life in Heaven awaits me after my journey through earth is over...the storms of life are blowing me to my eternal Destination, safe in the arms of JESUS.
In that devotion that was so spoke to my heart so deeply last Sunday, Charles Spurgeon shared about the"Happy Troubles" that blow us to JESUS:
"In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father's arms, and is blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but his God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than at any other time.
Oh, tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father! Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to, see that thou puttest thy full confidence in Him. Dishonour not thy Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and fears; but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee. Show rich men how rich thou art in thy poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how strong thou art in thy weakness when underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as He built the heavens and the earth, glorify Himself in thy weakness, and magnify His might in the midst of thy distress. The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. "
Reading this devotion got me to thinking about indeed how happy my troubles have been when they have blown me to the arms of my dear SAVIOR. I forget in the midst of my trials sometime that this trouble I'm experiencing is the very thing that my FATHER is using to blow me closer to HIM...so therefore it is "A Happy Trouble."
When my brothers and sister and I were growing up, my Dad and Mom took us to church each Sunday morning. Often, my Mom did not feel like going due to her own battles with her chronic health issues that began when she was pregnant with me and continue to this day...but often she went anyway, and then fixed a big meal for lunch afterwards. My Mom and Dad knew the force of those hurricane winds that blew when my Mom had to spend six months in a hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, when I was four. With seven mouths to feed, one breadwinner, and money "taking wings" for medical bills, my Dad and Mom learned that GOD was faithful to our family, as HE supplied all our needs in CHRIST JESUS. One of my favorite songs I learned growing up in that Methodist church we attended was "The Solid Rock." JESUS is the Solid Rock and I know that my ANCHOR, JESUS CHRIST, has held me and my family in the midst of our hurricanes and stormy seas, and HE will continue to until HE takes us home to be with HIM where there won't be any more storms.
Well, I don't know if my husband has found the "Happy" part of me crashing into my nephew's car yet...but somewhere GOD is using it for good. Maybe it just happened to use for this week's email:)...I'm so sorry, Daniel, for crashing your car. Thank you for the grace you have shown me. Thankfully, GOD doesn't waste any of our troubles, including me crashing my nephew's new sports car...and I am very happy about that.
With all HIS love,
mitzi
Thank you, my dear friends for your birthday wishes to me. Your emails, writing on my "wall", and your cards encouraged me so much. What a dear blessing you are to me...thank you, each one of you, for showing GOD's love to me on my birthday...and by the way, thank you so much for asking me to pray for you, I count it an honor and a privilege to lift you and your requests up to the LORD.
"The Solid Rock" by Edward Mote
My hope is built on nothing less than JESUS' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on JESUS' name.
When darkness seems to hide HIS face, I rest on HIS unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale, my ANCHOR hold within the veil.
His oath, HIS covenant, HIS blood Supports me in the whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way, HE then is all my hope and stay.
When HE shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in HIM be found;
Dressed in HIS righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne.
Chorus:
On CHRIST the solid ROCK, I stand All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Working Out
"For physical training is of some value-useful for a little, but godliness [spiritual training] is useful and of value in everything and in every way, for it holds promise for the present life and also for the life which is to come. I Timothy 4:8 Amplified
"Only believe!" Mark 5:36
Dear Friends,
This past Saturday morning, I got up early and headed to the river. It was raining when I got there, so I pulled up to the river where I was facing the water and had a cozy time spending time with the LORD in the front seat of the Jimmy watching the raindrops hit the river. I wasn't too concerned about the rain, except the kayak was sticking out the rear end of the Jimmy and I was hoping it wasn't getting the car wet... I sure didn't want to get mold growing in the car. I was enjoying this time with the LORD, when HE brought to my mind a certain desire that HE had impressed upon my heart a few months ago at this very spot. Little did I know it would become a prayer and intense desire in my heart that would exercise my faith very much. While I was sitting there at the river, praying about this situation, one I have spent many hours praying about since then, I was impressed to go and visit my friend Wanda and ask her to pray with me, to come alongside me, and pray together. After it stopped raining, I had time to squeeze in a paddle to my favorite spot, Big Creek, before meeting Hannah Beth at the gym...where she and my son work out. It was the first time I had worked out at a gym, in a class in long, long time, since Johnny was in seminary. Hannah Beth has been a member of this gym for a while and has been after me to go with her and I always have a good excuse not to. I prefer the slower pace these days of walking, paddling, riding my bicycle, and working out with a few weights on my own at home. This Saturday though, she was going to get a free t shirt if she brought a friend with her, and she really tried to get some of her friends to go but no one could...so, I told her I would try to get back in time from paddling and join her. Well, I did get back in time, after a brisk paddle to Big Creek, and met Hannah Beth just before the class started. When we walked inside, the guys at the desk were really friendly as Hannah Beth introduced me as "her friend," and I kept waiting for her to say this is my Mom, but I guess she forgot:). I was definitely out of my comfort zone being at the gym as I signed the liability form, I thought, you just don't know how many risks I do have:). After filling the form out, we went to the area they were having the "Group Power Class." We put our stuff in the little cubby hole and Hannah Beth got my little area ready for me to work out in getting me a bar and some weights. I really didn't know what to expect, I just wanted to be able to make it long enough for her to get her free t-shirt. It wasn't long before a young man up front with a really friendly smile began leading us in some exercises. He had a couple of instructors with him on stage up front, and then another instructor was running around helping those of us who need assistance. I had my own personal trainer in Hannah Beth standing beside me, and helping me. I had a little trouble with the lunges...in fact, i had two instructors and Hannah Beth trying to help me get my lunge form down , and I don't think I ever caught on just right...but, at least I didn't stumble off of the treadmill, pulling the girl off beside me, and get slammed into a wall, like I did at the last gym I worked out at several years ago. Thankfully, Hannah Beth wasn't around to witness that scene,she was little then and at home. She would have died of embarrassment at that fiasco but we have gotten many laughs from that "workout" many years ago. Did I mention my book went flying too, when I flew off the treadmill? Back at our "group power class" it was humbling for me to use the least weight I could on most of the exercises, but I was just really thankful that after all the arm lifts, leg squats, leg lifts, and squats, that I made it! I made it the whole class, and it didn't kill me. After an hour, I was still standing, and even felt better after I left than when I came in...now for this old girl who has had a mountain of health issues through the years, this was a real milestone for me, and something to Praise the LORD about and I do!
After I left the gym, I had a few errands to run, and I was going to run by and see if Wanda was home and see if I could pray with her. Wanda was home this time (last week's email she was gone when I came by), and she and her husband were out enjoying the flowers in their beautiful backyard. After I visited with them a few minutes I told Wanda I felt impressed to come by and pray with her. We sat down on a bench outside in the yard, and shared just a few minutes of prayer together, before I had to go. Little did either one of us know that something very out of the ordinary was going to happen that afternoon in Wanda's life, and though it was painful,like getting slammed into a wall, we later realized that GOD was answering some of our prayers we prayed earlier that day. Wanda gave me permission to share that she has a daughter that is estranged from them, with two young sons, and she lives out of state. It has been such a difficult trial for Wanda and her husband as they love their daughter dearly. Her daughter, unknown to Wanda, came to visit her grandfather that afternoon in our town, and left without visiting her Mom and Dad or other family...Wanda found out when she later went to visit her Daddy and saw two beautiful pictures of her grandbabies in his room. Not fully the way we would have liked, but as GOD would have it, was answering our prayers. Our faith grew in amazement as we realized the very moment we were praying, GOD was already answering..."before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Isaiah 65:24. It has been Wanda's desire for her daughter to visit her aged granddaddy and she had come. It sure did build our faith as we realized that GOD was answering our prayers, even if it wasn't exactly the way we had hoped. It helps us to "Hold On" that HE is going to continuing answering as we cry out to HIM in faith for those desires HE has put in our hearts to pray for...
Wanda and I talked this week about how GOD is putting us through a workout to build our spiritual muscles...to make us stronger in HIM. As much as these "delayed desires," "prayer burdens", whatever you want to call them, get heavy and are painful at times, like pumping those weights at the gym, GOD truly is using them to build our spiritual muscles as we are learning to persevere in prayer, to "hold on" to faith, to encourage one another and hold each other up in prayer, As the instructors at the gym and Hannah Beth, encouraged me and helped me through the workout, GOD has called us to come alongside our brothers and sisters in CHRIST and encourage them spiritually. In Hebrews 10:23-25 it shares," Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for HE who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the DAY approaching." I thought about how that workout class was a small picture of the body of CHRIST, pushing one another, encouraging one another to work our bodies harder, but spiritually it's so much more important to encourage one another in our walks with CHRIST, building our spiritual muscles, as you see the Day approaching." What kind of shape will CHRIST find us in when HE returns...flabby, self indulgent, out of breath, a panty waste? Hebrews 12:7-10 shares with us that the true child of GOD is not going to get away with being a "flabby CHRISTian." Our FATHER will make sure of that.."Endure hardship as discipline; GOD is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not discipline (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. ..."Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but GOD disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."
GOD has allowed me to go through many forms of discipline in my life, as HE has you, to build my spiritual muscles. I had a hard time believing when my kids were little and I was so sick that we would actually make it to this point homeschooling where my daughter is a junior and my son is in college, much less go on Mother Daughter trips like we did a couple of weeks ago to North Carolina with Hannah Beth, or go workout at the gym with her. GOD has done "exceeding abundantly beyond all that I ask or thought," along the way, and it builds my faith so much to look back and see what GOD has done. As I have written this I have thought of other dreams and desires that GOD has put in my heart, some I really prayed about, or worked to accomplish, like playing basketball for the Lady Warhawks when I went to college. GOD put that desire in my heart when I was a young girl, and did all that it took to bring about that desire...not that I would be a "basketball star" because i wasn't, I got well acquainted with the pine bench, but to let me play for a coach who loved CHRIST, and her life made me desire what she had- a close walk with JESUS CHRIST. GOD put a desire in my heart for a CHRISTian husband...I never, ever dreamed in a million years, HE would take the boyfriend I had dated for 4 years and broke up with after I came to know CHRIST and save HIM and give him back to me, a new creature in CHRIST, with a totally new heart, and new direction for life. GOD has been so faithful...even when those desires don't quiet work out the way I thought, like going to the mission field in Africa. HE has made me very content to live right where HE has me and realize this is my mission field. The process was painful, giving up that desire, but GOD has a way of changing our hearts. A desire I had a few years ago, was to have a neighbor that was more than just a neighbor but a true friend. I remember praying about this and after a year and a half, GOD brought us the dearest neighbors we have ever had...and that neighbor was Wanda and her dear husband Greg! What a blessing it was the LORD led them to live beside us for 3 sweet years, and as I shared last week, Wanda and I continue to live beside each other in our hearts...Wanda was another "desire of my heart" the LORD put there and after a year and a half of waiting and praying and GOD putting all the pieces in place (Wanda's story is incredible how GOD moved them from Roanoke, Virginia and planted them right beside us), HE gave me the desire of my heart, and "exceeding abundantly beyond all that I ask or thought" in a neighbor or friend. Wanda has been not only a dear friend to me, but a "spiritual mother" to me, discipling me and helping me to grow in CHRIST. She always has a story from her life to encourage me when my faith is faltering.
Forgive me for going on about all these desires GOD has put in my heart through the years and how HE answered them, but it builds my faith incredibly remembering what HE has done in my past and knowing HE will be faithful to answer my prayers for the desires HE has put in my heart now...HE is "working out" my spiritual muscles as HE leads me to persevere in prayer,"only believe" and wait on HIM. I read a quote in my devotion this week that said, "Faith, courage, and patience are tremendous qualities in a great life but the time element is the factor which is absolutely necessary to work all this out." Time...ugh, that's where I stumble so badly, I want it NOW...and GOD is teaching me, over and over, that it takes time for HIM to answer some prayers. In my front yard last year, I planted a little acorn, one I had picked up on a walk with my Dad and brother in the woods one cool fall evening last year. This acorn was from one of the biggest white oaks I have ever seen. I honestly had forgotten about planting it, until my other oak tree died (that I thought was still alive and wrote about), and one morning I looked and there barely visible under the grass where three tiny red oak leaves! I was thrilled! I have been guarding that little oak tree with my life, threatening John Mac's life if he runs over it with the lawnmower. I surrounded it with bricks to help protect it while it is so little. When I look at that oak tree, I am reminded of a devotion that I read in Streams in the Desert that said, "Just as it takes GOD time to grow an oak tree, it also takes time for HIM to answer prayer..." It helps me to be patient when I remember that just as my little oak tree is really taking it's time to grow, it maybe 3 inches tall right now, but those roots are going down deep in the soil, it also takes GOD time to answer the desires that HE puts in our hearts to pray for....just like moving Wanda right beside me. There was so much going on behind the scenes in that year and a half I was praying for a new neighbor, as GOD was not only orchestrating Wanda and Greg's move to Athens, but also their two daughters and their family's who lived in other states. In that year and a half, GOD moved them all back to Athens...amazing!
I read some quotes in Springs in the Valley this week that I wrote on a card to encourage me and help me not grow weary as I am waiting on GOD to answer the desires and prayers that HE has put in my heart..."Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee." I Samuel 20:4. "GOD honors the person who trusts HIM implicitly." "It is not our worth, but CHRIST's which has secured for us immediate access to the Throne, "For all the promises of GOD in Him are yes, and in HIM Amen." 2 Cor.1:20. And then this one that I love that so encourages me to not give up on my desires, but keep praying and keep stretching those spiritual muscles, "Only believe"Mark 5:36." GOD has certainly proven to me time and time again that HE is indeed trustworthy to keep HIS promises, and grant me the "desires of my heart," and answer my prayers. In the same devotion as the Scripture, "Only believe," was the quote, "Whatever desire the FATHER permits to live in the heart of one of HIS saints, HE will grant the fulfillment thereof."-Dr. S. Chadwick. This reminds me of one of my favorite verses..."Delight yourself in the LORD and HE will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4. I have claimed that verse over and over and been amazed as I look back over the years to see how GOD has done this for me...even this past Sunday night, as my husband and I sat down with a meal with the Greene's, my beloved friends the LORD gave me the great desire to pray for and love a few years ago. HE has given me the desire of my heart over and over through the years to spend time with them and have them in our home...even though they live in North Carolina. This did not come about immediately...in fact there was a waiting period of two to three years, long after GOD had put the desire in my heart, before we actually had fellowship with them in our home...but GOD did this for me, not once, but twice now, and we have had the joy of enjoying other meals and times of fellowship with them at a restaurant like we did this past Sunday night, after they sang at a church near Decatur. I was encouraged in my faith, as I thought of this and many other desires that GOD has put in my heart through the years and has given me- often years later.
The Greene's (www.thegreenesgospel.com) sing a song called "Hold On" on their "Whosoever Believes" CD that gripped my heart and encouraged me the first time I heard them sing it in Boaz a few years ago when Tim was still singing with them. We had the privilege of hearing them sing it Sunday night and it still encourages my heart to "Hold On" to JESUS and wait for HIM to perform that which I have asked of HIM. I love the second verse where it says, "...in the midst of all your dark despair, with open arms HE's waiting there, to hold you until the hurt is gone." The more precious picture to me, is not me "Holding On" to JESUS, but JESUS holding me in HIS arms.
These waiting times do stretch my spiritual muscles, as I earnestly often times desire things ahead of GOD's timetable, but HE is teaching me to pray without ceasing, to be persistent, to be patient, and to "walk by faith and not by sight." I can assure you, I am just as "awkward" as doing some of these things as I was doing lunge's in the gym, and get even more tired than I did at the gym. But as I look back over my life, I can see where the LORD is building my spiritual muscles. I am so thankful for you my dear friends and family who come along beside me to encourage me, and pray for me and help me to stand when I grow weary, and I do grow weary. GOD is stretching my spiritual muscles and continues to teach me that "My grace is sufficient for you and MY power is made perfect weakness..." Therefore I will gladly boast in my weaknesses that the power of CHRIST may rest on me." II Corinthians 12:9-10.
With all HIS love,
mitzi
"Hold On" written by Phil Cross
When there's no steps left to take,
no moves left to make,
Oppressing fears, tormenting doubts,
prayer after prayer, still there's no way out,
And it seems like pain is all you gain.
Chorus:
Hold on, hold on,
Through every storm hold on,
Even in the darkest night, walk by faith
and not by sight,
Hold on, Hold on.
There's a FATHER of love,
holding peace like a dove
In the midst of all your dark despair
with open arms HE's waiting there,
To hold you 'till the hurt is gone.
"Only believe!" Mark 5:36
Dear Friends,
This past Saturday morning, I got up early and headed to the river. It was raining when I got there, so I pulled up to the river where I was facing the water and had a cozy time spending time with the LORD in the front seat of the Jimmy watching the raindrops hit the river. I wasn't too concerned about the rain, except the kayak was sticking out the rear end of the Jimmy and I was hoping it wasn't getting the car wet... I sure didn't want to get mold growing in the car. I was enjoying this time with the LORD, when HE brought to my mind a certain desire that HE had impressed upon my heart a few months ago at this very spot. Little did I know it would become a prayer and intense desire in my heart that would exercise my faith very much. While I was sitting there at the river, praying about this situation, one I have spent many hours praying about since then, I was impressed to go and visit my friend Wanda and ask her to pray with me, to come alongside me, and pray together. After it stopped raining, I had time to squeeze in a paddle to my favorite spot, Big Creek, before meeting Hannah Beth at the gym...where she and my son work out. It was the first time I had worked out at a gym, in a class in long, long time, since Johnny was in seminary. Hannah Beth has been a member of this gym for a while and has been after me to go with her and I always have a good excuse not to. I prefer the slower pace these days of walking, paddling, riding my bicycle, and working out with a few weights on my own at home. This Saturday though, she was going to get a free t shirt if she brought a friend with her, and she really tried to get some of her friends to go but no one could...so, I told her I would try to get back in time from paddling and join her. Well, I did get back in time, after a brisk paddle to Big Creek, and met Hannah Beth just before the class started. When we walked inside, the guys at the desk were really friendly as Hannah Beth introduced me as "her friend," and I kept waiting for her to say this is my Mom, but I guess she forgot:). I was definitely out of my comfort zone being at the gym as I signed the liability form, I thought, you just don't know how many risks I do have:). After filling the form out, we went to the area they were having the "Group Power Class." We put our stuff in the little cubby hole and Hannah Beth got my little area ready for me to work out in getting me a bar and some weights. I really didn't know what to expect, I just wanted to be able to make it long enough for her to get her free t-shirt. It wasn't long before a young man up front with a really friendly smile began leading us in some exercises. He had a couple of instructors with him on stage up front, and then another instructor was running around helping those of us who need assistance. I had my own personal trainer in Hannah Beth standing beside me, and helping me. I had a little trouble with the lunges...in fact, i had two instructors and Hannah Beth trying to help me get my lunge form down , and I don't think I ever caught on just right...but, at least I didn't stumble off of the treadmill, pulling the girl off beside me, and get slammed into a wall, like I did at the last gym I worked out at several years ago. Thankfully, Hannah Beth wasn't around to witness that scene,she was little then and at home. She would have died of embarrassment at that fiasco but we have gotten many laughs from that "workout" many years ago. Did I mention my book went flying too, when I flew off the treadmill? Back at our "group power class" it was humbling for me to use the least weight I could on most of the exercises, but I was just really thankful that after all the arm lifts, leg squats, leg lifts, and squats, that I made it! I made it the whole class, and it didn't kill me. After an hour, I was still standing, and even felt better after I left than when I came in...now for this old girl who has had a mountain of health issues through the years, this was a real milestone for me, and something to Praise the LORD about and I do!
After I left the gym, I had a few errands to run, and I was going to run by and see if Wanda was home and see if I could pray with her. Wanda was home this time (last week's email she was gone when I came by), and she and her husband were out enjoying the flowers in their beautiful backyard. After I visited with them a few minutes I told Wanda I felt impressed to come by and pray with her. We sat down on a bench outside in the yard, and shared just a few minutes of prayer together, before I had to go. Little did either one of us know that something very out of the ordinary was going to happen that afternoon in Wanda's life, and though it was painful,like getting slammed into a wall, we later realized that GOD was answering some of our prayers we prayed earlier that day. Wanda gave me permission to share that she has a daughter that is estranged from them, with two young sons, and she lives out of state. It has been such a difficult trial for Wanda and her husband as they love their daughter dearly. Her daughter, unknown to Wanda, came to visit her grandfather that afternoon in our town, and left without visiting her Mom and Dad or other family...Wanda found out when she later went to visit her Daddy and saw two beautiful pictures of her grandbabies in his room. Not fully the way we would have liked, but as GOD would have it, was answering our prayers. Our faith grew in amazement as we realized the very moment we were praying, GOD was already answering..."before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Isaiah 65:24. It has been Wanda's desire for her daughter to visit her aged granddaddy and she had come. It sure did build our faith as we realized that GOD was answering our prayers, even if it wasn't exactly the way we had hoped. It helps us to "Hold On" that HE is going to continuing answering as we cry out to HIM in faith for those desires HE has put in our hearts to pray for...
Wanda and I talked this week about how GOD is putting us through a workout to build our spiritual muscles...to make us stronger in HIM. As much as these "delayed desires," "prayer burdens", whatever you want to call them, get heavy and are painful at times, like pumping those weights at the gym, GOD truly is using them to build our spiritual muscles as we are learning to persevere in prayer, to "hold on" to faith, to encourage one another and hold each other up in prayer, As the instructors at the gym and Hannah Beth, encouraged me and helped me through the workout, GOD has called us to come alongside our brothers and sisters in CHRIST and encourage them spiritually. In Hebrews 10:23-25 it shares," Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for HE who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the DAY approaching." I thought about how that workout class was a small picture of the body of CHRIST, pushing one another, encouraging one another to work our bodies harder, but spiritually it's so much more important to encourage one another in our walks with CHRIST, building our spiritual muscles, as you see the Day approaching." What kind of shape will CHRIST find us in when HE returns...flabby, self indulgent, out of breath, a panty waste? Hebrews 12:7-10 shares with us that the true child of GOD is not going to get away with being a "flabby CHRISTian." Our FATHER will make sure of that.."Endure hardship as discipline; GOD is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not discipline (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. ..."Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but GOD disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."
GOD has allowed me to go through many forms of discipline in my life, as HE has you, to build my spiritual muscles. I had a hard time believing when my kids were little and I was so sick that we would actually make it to this point homeschooling where my daughter is a junior and my son is in college, much less go on Mother Daughter trips like we did a couple of weeks ago to North Carolina with Hannah Beth, or go workout at the gym with her. GOD has done "exceeding abundantly beyond all that I ask or thought," along the way, and it builds my faith so much to look back and see what GOD has done. As I have written this I have thought of other dreams and desires that GOD has put in my heart, some I really prayed about, or worked to accomplish, like playing basketball for the Lady Warhawks when I went to college. GOD put that desire in my heart when I was a young girl, and did all that it took to bring about that desire...not that I would be a "basketball star" because i wasn't, I got well acquainted with the pine bench, but to let me play for a coach who loved CHRIST, and her life made me desire what she had- a close walk with JESUS CHRIST. GOD put a desire in my heart for a CHRISTian husband...I never, ever dreamed in a million years, HE would take the boyfriend I had dated for 4 years and broke up with after I came to know CHRIST and save HIM and give him back to me, a new creature in CHRIST, with a totally new heart, and new direction for life. GOD has been so faithful...even when those desires don't quiet work out the way I thought, like going to the mission field in Africa. HE has made me very content to live right where HE has me and realize this is my mission field. The process was painful, giving up that desire, but GOD has a way of changing our hearts. A desire I had a few years ago, was to have a neighbor that was more than just a neighbor but a true friend. I remember praying about this and after a year and a half, GOD brought us the dearest neighbors we have ever had...and that neighbor was Wanda and her dear husband Greg! What a blessing it was the LORD led them to live beside us for 3 sweet years, and as I shared last week, Wanda and I continue to live beside each other in our hearts...Wanda was another "desire of my heart" the LORD put there and after a year and a half of waiting and praying and GOD putting all the pieces in place (Wanda's story is incredible how GOD moved them from Roanoke, Virginia and planted them right beside us), HE gave me the desire of my heart, and "exceeding abundantly beyond all that I ask or thought" in a neighbor or friend. Wanda has been not only a dear friend to me, but a "spiritual mother" to me, discipling me and helping me to grow in CHRIST. She always has a story from her life to encourage me when my faith is faltering.
Forgive me for going on about all these desires GOD has put in my heart through the years and how HE answered them, but it builds my faith incredibly remembering what HE has done in my past and knowing HE will be faithful to answer my prayers for the desires HE has put in my heart now...HE is "working out" my spiritual muscles as HE leads me to persevere in prayer,"only believe" and wait on HIM. I read a quote in my devotion this week that said, "Faith, courage, and patience are tremendous qualities in a great life but the time element is the factor which is absolutely necessary to work all this out." Time...ugh, that's where I stumble so badly, I want it NOW...and GOD is teaching me, over and over, that it takes time for HIM to answer some prayers. In my front yard last year, I planted a little acorn, one I had picked up on a walk with my Dad and brother in the woods one cool fall evening last year. This acorn was from one of the biggest white oaks I have ever seen. I honestly had forgotten about planting it, until my other oak tree died (that I thought was still alive and wrote about), and one morning I looked and there barely visible under the grass where three tiny red oak leaves! I was thrilled! I have been guarding that little oak tree with my life, threatening John Mac's life if he runs over it with the lawnmower. I surrounded it with bricks to help protect it while it is so little. When I look at that oak tree, I am reminded of a devotion that I read in Streams in the Desert that said, "Just as it takes GOD time to grow an oak tree, it also takes time for HIM to answer prayer..." It helps me to be patient when I remember that just as my little oak tree is really taking it's time to grow, it maybe 3 inches tall right now, but those roots are going down deep in the soil, it also takes GOD time to answer the desires that HE puts in our hearts to pray for....just like moving Wanda right beside me. There was so much going on behind the scenes in that year and a half I was praying for a new neighbor, as GOD was not only orchestrating Wanda and Greg's move to Athens, but also their two daughters and their family's who lived in other states. In that year and a half, GOD moved them all back to Athens...amazing!
I read some quotes in Springs in the Valley this week that I wrote on a card to encourage me and help me not grow weary as I am waiting on GOD to answer the desires and prayers that HE has put in my heart..."Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee." I Samuel 20:4. "GOD honors the person who trusts HIM implicitly." "It is not our worth, but CHRIST's which has secured for us immediate access to the Throne, "For all the promises of GOD in Him are yes, and in HIM Amen." 2 Cor.1:20. And then this one that I love that so encourages me to not give up on my desires, but keep praying and keep stretching those spiritual muscles, "Only believe"Mark 5:36." GOD has certainly proven to me time and time again that HE is indeed trustworthy to keep HIS promises, and grant me the "desires of my heart," and answer my prayers. In the same devotion as the Scripture, "Only believe," was the quote, "Whatever desire the FATHER permits to live in the heart of one of HIS saints, HE will grant the fulfillment thereof."-Dr. S. Chadwick. This reminds me of one of my favorite verses..."Delight yourself in the LORD and HE will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4. I have claimed that verse over and over and been amazed as I look back over the years to see how GOD has done this for me...even this past Sunday night, as my husband and I sat down with a meal with the Greene's, my beloved friends the LORD gave me the great desire to pray for and love a few years ago. HE has given me the desire of my heart over and over through the years to spend time with them and have them in our home...even though they live in North Carolina. This did not come about immediately...in fact there was a waiting period of two to three years, long after GOD had put the desire in my heart, before we actually had fellowship with them in our home...but GOD did this for me, not once, but twice now, and we have had the joy of enjoying other meals and times of fellowship with them at a restaurant like we did this past Sunday night, after they sang at a church near Decatur. I was encouraged in my faith, as I thought of this and many other desires that GOD has put in my heart through the years and has given me- often years later.
The Greene's (www.thegreenesgospel.com) sing a song called "Hold On" on their "Whosoever Believes" CD that gripped my heart and encouraged me the first time I heard them sing it in Boaz a few years ago when Tim was still singing with them. We had the privilege of hearing them sing it Sunday night and it still encourages my heart to "Hold On" to JESUS and wait for HIM to perform that which I have asked of HIM. I love the second verse where it says, "...in the midst of all your dark despair, with open arms HE's waiting there, to hold you until the hurt is gone." The more precious picture to me, is not me "Holding On" to JESUS, but JESUS holding me in HIS arms.
These waiting times do stretch my spiritual muscles, as I earnestly often times desire things ahead of GOD's timetable, but HE is teaching me to pray without ceasing, to be persistent, to be patient, and to "walk by faith and not by sight." I can assure you, I am just as "awkward" as doing some of these things as I was doing lunge's in the gym, and get even more tired than I did at the gym. But as I look back over my life, I can see where the LORD is building my spiritual muscles. I am so thankful for you my dear friends and family who come along beside me to encourage me, and pray for me and help me to stand when I grow weary, and I do grow weary. GOD is stretching my spiritual muscles and continues to teach me that "My grace is sufficient for you and MY power is made perfect weakness..." Therefore I will gladly boast in my weaknesses that the power of CHRIST may rest on me." II Corinthians 12:9-10.
With all HIS love,
mitzi
"Hold On" written by Phil Cross
When there's no steps left to take,
no moves left to make,
Oppressing fears, tormenting doubts,
prayer after prayer, still there's no way out,
And it seems like pain is all you gain.
Chorus:
Hold on, hold on,
Through every storm hold on,
Even in the darkest night, walk by faith
and not by sight,
Hold on, Hold on.
There's a FATHER of love,
holding peace like a dove
In the midst of all your dark despair
with open arms HE's waiting there,
To hold you 'till the hurt is gone.
Friday, August 22, 2008
A Date with JESUS
"I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness." Jeremiah 31:3
Dear Friends,
I had a "date" with JESUS last Sunday evening. Actually our "date" started off kind of rocky, in fact I didn't want to go with just HIM, I really wanted to go with my husband. My husband and I had planned to go out on a date out to eat at a special restaurant we've never been to before. Then, afterwards, enjoy the full moon- maybe drive down by the river where we got engaged umpteen years ago ( Ha...GOD knew just where to get Johnny to take me to say "yes" to his proposal...the river!). Johnny and I started planning our date on the way home from church Sunday. After lunch, we took a nap and I remember hearing the phone ring, but I went back to sleep. Later when I woke up, my husband told me that his brother called needing him to work at the restaurant that evening. I was not a happy camper, in fact I got angry. I had a little help getting that way with some hormones I'm taking...I usually handle disappointment a little better than I did last Sunday, but I was still mad just the same. As I stormed down the hall, my son kept calling me from his bedroom, " Mom, Mom." Once I got outside, I just stood there trying to decide what to do. I guess I could go paddling like I had thought about doing before we planned our date. I had been wanting to paddle for weeks, and "my" plans kept getting changed...so I cooled down a little, went back inside, and asked Johnny to forgive me for getting angry with him. He really felt badly about having to work, but felt like he couldn't say no, and suggested we could go another night. I was disappointed, real disappointed, and somewhere the thought went through my head, "Disappointments are HIS appointments." I wasn't quiet ready for that to sink in yet, and was still simmering about the change of events...even though I had asked forgiveness for the way I acted. Recently, I've been writing about GOD directing our steps... I wasn't liking HIS directing at this moment. Later on, my son told me that since my niece is going off to college, to Indiana University next week, she asked her Dad to spend the evening with her and their family. So savoring every moment with his daughter, he was taking off, and my husband was his replacement. Okay, that made me feel better. I could give up my evening plans with my husband for my brother-in-law to be with his family. Finally, after I calmed down, I decided I would go paddle and make the best of the evening. The kids were going back to church for the evening and Johnny had to work...so I decided to go paddle. I did feel a little guilty for not going to church with my kids ... but I loaded up my little blue boat in the back of the Jimmy that Hannah Beth's granddaddy gave to her. I got my gear together, and came back in to spend a little time with Johnny before I left. He couldn't help it that his brother needed him, and I wasn't doing too much to make him feel like he was doing the right thing. After we kissed and made up, and we did:), I ate part of a tomato and cheese sandwich, grabbed my IPOD, and I was off...
Once at the river, the sun was still pretty high in the sky just a little after 6:00 p.m. in the evening, and the water was as still as could be. A perfect evening for paddling. As a drove down the hill to the little ramp where I usually put in, there was a family fishing together. I spoke to them and tried not to get tangled up in their fishing lines. It didn't take too long to get my stuff loaded in the boat, my rod and reel, Bible, dry bag with emergency stuff, flashlight, water bottle, machete, rope, and tackle box. I was off-paddling across the still water, toward the other side where the evening shadows where gathering on the water. It didn't take me long to get over my disappointment at my plans being changed, In fact as I paddled along, the LORD put it in my mind that this would be a "date with HIM." I begin to soak in my beautiful surroundings. I startled a great blue heron as I paddled along, and listened to him squawk as he took off, flying gracefully through the air. I cast my rod and reel in the water a few times, but as usual, nothing was biting my line, and I decided to paddle on down the cove to my favorite spot-Big Creek. After paddling under the bridge, where the barn swallows nest and swarm, I was at Big Creek and immediately it seemed the temperature dropped a few degrees. The trees overhanging Big Creek, make for a canopy and the shade made it much cooler. The crickets and tree frogs were singing loudly, and I loved being here on this late Sunday evening, on a "date with JESUS," my Creator, and the Lover of My Soul. As I paddled along, I prayed for some of you, and I prayed for my son, thinking about the upcoming changes and challenges for him in his new school. But mostly, I tried to concentrate on JESUS, and how much HE loved me. I thought about a Scripture that came to my mind,
3The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying,
"I have (A)loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore I have drawn you with (B)lovingkindness. Jeremiah 31:3
I paddled on up into Big Creek, until I got to a fallen log that was still there from earlier in the summer and blocked my path. I decided to turn around, and took out my GOD's Promises for your Every Need book, that Dr. and Mrs. James Milner gave me when I graduated from college. Dr. Milner was a Dean at Athens St. College (University now) back when I graduated in 1984. He and his wife were a tremendous encouragement to me and my husband as young CHRISTians where we all attended First Baptist, Athens. Now, 24 years later, I was continuing to be blessed through a book of GOD's promises that they had shared with me on my graduation. There in the evening shadows as the sun was beginning to go down, and I sat in my kayak, I started reading some of those promises... Ps. 40:2, "Do not fear for I am with thee do not be afraid for I am thy GOD, surely I will strengthen thee, surely I will uphold thee with thy righteous right hand." I read Isaiah 41:10, a verse I learned my junior year in college at University of Montevallo when I was going through a difficult time...in fact, I was having panic attacks. "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your GOD. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." I thought "this is a good verse to share with my son as he starts his new school this week." I did share it with him later as I wrote it down for him with a little note and left it on his pillow his first day at UAH. I also read, Isaiah 40:31 my husband's favorite verse, "Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."
After reading some more verses, I decided to paddle on back up into the cove, and it began to get dark. I knew it was going to be a full moon and I had told my family that it would be so neat to go for a moon light paddle and I couldn't get any takers to go with me....well, it did sound neat, but when it started getting really dark, I thought, hum, it's dumb enough to go paddling by yourself, but it's really dumb to go paddling at night by yourself, so, right before it got real dark, I paddled on in, and loaded up my boat...glad to be back on land. I kept looking to see the moon and couldn't see it for the hills and trees around the river were blocking it. After fishing a few minutes from the bank, I kept getting my lure stuck on the bottom, I decided to pack up and go see if I could find the moon, and I did...as I pulled up on the bridge going towards home there it was just as full and shining as could be. It was getting high enough now to shine over the trees and it's beams were reflecting over the water. I pulled over to enjoy its beauty from the side of the road. Part of me longed to stay, and enjoy this time with my Creator and the beautiful moon HE had created, and part of me felt like it was time to go home, my family would be home soon, and I didn't want them to be worried about Mom being at the bottom of the river somewhere on her moonlight paddle:).
On the way home, I stopped by my dear friend Wanda's house. Wanda and I used to be next door neighbor's for 3 sweet years until the LORD moved her and her husband across town, but we still live beside each other in our hearts. I just needed a hug, and Wanda was just the one to give it...except that Wanda wasn't home when I pulled up in her driveway. I thought, "Wanda, where are you when I need you?" Later I found out she was at her Sunday School party. In fact, I called her on her cell phone to ask her where she was and her voice mail picked up. I thought, " Okay, LORD, I give up, I'll get my hug from you tonight." GOD knows how to hug us through HIS Word, through His Spirit, through HIS presence, and as HE and I traveled home alone in that little Jimmy with my little blue boat sticking out the back, the full moon shining up above, HE hugged me, and loved me. I felt so refreshed, and so invigorated, and so peaceful as I drove home through the streets of Athens, around our courthouse square, and then on to our house. When I got home, I was the first one there, and I was eager to sit down and write while my "date with JESUS" was still fresh in my heart.
Later on, as I thought about how disappointed I was when I found out my husband had to work, I thought about GOD's disappointment when I don't make time to spend with HIM...Wow, I guess I've never thought about GOD longing to spend time with me, the way I long to spend time with my husband. When I rush into the day and don't make time to spend with the LORD, I miss my time with the HIM. I miss what HE wants to share with me in HIS "LOVE LETTERS" to me, HIS strength, HIS power, HIS wisdom, and HIS intimacy HE longs to bestow upon me through spending time with HIM through HIS WORD and prayer. But more importantly, my FATHER, my HUSBAND misses HIS time with me...HIS bride. Isaiah 54:5 tells me, " For your Maker is your husband-- the LORD Almighty is HIS name-- the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; HE is called the God of all the earth (Isaiah 54:5). I am the "apple of HIS eye," HIS word tells me in Ps. 17:8", "loved with an everlasting love,"Jer. 31:3, and He "loved me and gave HIMself for me" and you, HIS "love letter" tells me in Galatians 2:20. Yes, HE loves to spend time with us. Sometimes HE really loves to spend "extended time" with us revealing HIMSELF even more intimately to us. Those "dates" may come as the result of our loss of health, loss of job, loss of a dear friend or family member,or any other of a myriad of trials, that leaves a hole in our heart that GOD longs to fill with HIMSELF.
As I think about it, I guess a lot of "dates" with JESUS start off kind of rocky and unexpected, at least mine do, like my date with GOD last Sunday night. There are those times when I long to be alone with GOD, like each morning in my quiet times, and often when I go paddling, I go with the intent of spending time alone with the LORD. But what about "dates" HE chooses, like sickness that slows me down, an unexpected move that upsets all my plans, a broken heart, or even something as small as my husband having to work that changes my plans for the evening? I was just reading on my friend Ashleigh's blog http://heart-and-home.net/2008/08/journey.html ,about her husband John returning home from Iraq a few days ago after being gone for several months. Ashleigh and John both had a long "date" with GOD, as HE separated them from one another for several months, and she shared how close JESUS was to them during their time of being separated from each other. I don't know how to explain it, but somehow, JESUS "succours" to us in our time of need even though HE is always with us, HE shows HIMSELF so strong when we suffer the loss of other people, situations, or things in our lives that are so dear to us. In Philippians 3:8 Paul writes, "...I consider everything loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing CHRIST JESUS my LORD, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain CHRIST, and be found in HIM, not having a righteousness of my own...but that which is through faith in CHRIST..." The word, "succour" is a word that Charles Spurgeon often uses in his writings, and is used in the King James Version of the Bible to describe the help that JESUS gives us...how HE literally runs to us with help. The word succour comes from the Latin word succurro; sub and curro, to run...and it means literally, to run to, or run to support; hence, to help or relieve when in difficulty, want or distress; to assist and deliver from suffering; as, to succor a besieged city. In Hebrews 2:18 says, "He is able to succor them that are tempted.' 2 Corinthians 6:2 For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.).
How CHRIST my Saviour runs to me with help is becoming more and more dear to me and real to me the longer I walk with HIM. He has always "run to me" but I haven't and don't always recognize HIS grace, HIS presence, HIS help to me. I mentioned in my last email about my heart being broken in a relationship I desired very much a few months ago. As much as it hurt to be rejected, I would not exchange that relationship for the intimacy with CHRIST that I felt during that painful time. I can look back at the days following that time, and see how CHRIST "succoured" to me, and revealed HIMself so tenderly to me, through HIS WORD, through prayer, through you my dear friends who loved me.encouraged me, and prayed for me, and through my dear family. I was so amazed at CHRIST's tender revelation of HIMself to me, and it gives me confidence that HE is always there, and especially runs to me when I am in desperate need. Would I have "chosen" that "date" with GOD? No, but I wouldn't take anything for the sense of intimacy that I felt with CHRIST during that time, and I know now that HE does indeed run to me...I have never in my life experienced HIS presence quiet like I did during that difficult time. HIS tender love and friendship helped me to thank HIM for the trial that HE revealed HIMSELF to me so sweetly... HE succoured HIMself to me in my time of sorrow. In Words of Comfort and Cheer the reading for August 21 shares further what CHRIST does for us when HE "runs" to us in our trials, and when HE reveals HIMself to us in a more intimate way..."He will give you a fresh revelation of HIS love; He will bind you to HIMself with bonds you shall not wish to break; He will reveal to you such aspects of HIS character as to attract you into the tenderest fellowship and friendship; HE will show you mercy with a new and more delicate flavor than ever before..." Yes, HE does...and how sweet is HIS intimacy and fellowship.
This past Sunday morning, our preacher talked about how CHRIST longs to be intimate with us, even more than a husband and wife are intimate...In this month's "Focus on the Family " magazine, an article written by Glenn Stanton talks about this intimacy that CHRIST longs to share with us. He says, " The apostle Paul makes a powerful link between sexuality and spirituality in Ephesians 5. Paul connects the love between a husband and wife to that between CHRIST and the church...The intimacy expressed between spouses is but a shadow of the mysterious eternal love GOD has for HIS people. Not that GOD's love for us is sexual, but it is deeper, more caring and more sacrificial than even the closest relationship two people can have."
On the way home from the river as I stared at that full moon up in the sky and saw it reflecting over the water, the LORD reminded me that I was still on a "date with HIM," and HE wanted me to be so close to HIM, not just then, but always. I stared at the moon coming home, and the song that we used to sing when I was a child growing up in the Methodist church came to my mind, "He's Everything to Me." I can still see my sister sitting at the piano in her bedroom playing this song and singing it with me. As I thought about the words, I started singing it by the light of the full moon: "In the stars HIS handiwork I see, on the wind He speaks with majesty, though He ruleth over land and sea, what is that to me..." When I sang that song as a child, I didn't know JESUS as my LORD and SAVIOR. I thought I did, but HE was still very much "way out there" to me...until at 19, HE broke my heart over my sins, and invaded my life, when I surrendered my heart to HIM at an altar at Central Baptist Church in Decatur, Ala. Ever since then, HE has been taking me on "dates," some I love, and some I've kicked and screamed through....but HE faithfully draws me to HIM with HIS lovingkindness, teaching me to be intimate with HIM. As I look back over the past 27 years that I have walked with CHRIST, I can truly say that the most intimate times I have with HIM, have come during times of great trial. It's during these times that HE is teaching me, that "HE's Everything to Me," and i am everything to HIM who gave HIMself for me. HE still loves to take me on dates... dates with a full moon, my favorite kind:). I sure did enjoy this one with you, LORD, and next time, maybe my husband can come along too:).
With all HIS love,
mitzi
He's Everything to Me by Ralph Carmichael
"In the stars HIS handiwork I see,
On the wind HE speaks with majesty,
Though HE ruleth over land and sea,
What is that to me?
I will celebrate Nativity
For it has a place in history,
Sure, HE came to set HIS people free
What is that to me?
Till by faith I met HIM face to face
And I felt the wonder of HIS grace,
Then I knew that HE was more than just a GOD
who didn't care, that lived a way out there, And
Now HE walks beside me day by day
ever watching o'er me lest I stray,
helping me to find that narrow way,
He's everything to me.
Congratulations to my sis and her new hubby to be, Dennis who will be getting married next Friday...we are so thankful for the goodness of the LORD bringing them together. Dennis, thank you for the wonderful fish fry at my Mom and Dad's last weekend...you are a great cook!
Please remember my niece, Corinne, and her Mom and Dad and brother as she leaves to attend school at Indiana University this week...and our whole family, as we sure are going to miss her! Thank you so much for your prayers for John Mac this week at school...GOD answered your prayers, and he had a really good first week!
Friday, August 15, 2008
A Heart Like CHRIST
"Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty (snobbish, high-minded, exclusive), but readily adjust yourself to [people, things] and give yourselves to humble tasks. Never overestimate yourself or be wise in your own conceits." Romans 13:16, Amplified
Dear Friends,
About 14 years ago, wow, I can't believe it's been that long, the LORD brought a young couple-we were all young then:), into our lives that I admired very much. They were Wayne and Lisa Parker and I don't remember how the LORD brought our paths together but in HIS sovereignty HE did when Wayne was running for Congress the first time. Back then all our kids were little, now they're all big. In the picture, Wayne and Lisa are holding John Mac, 4 and Hannah Beth, 2. They've certainly grown up...at 18 and 16 now, but Lisa is still little, even smaller I think, and I am bigger, I know...with a different hair color:). I never dreamed that 14 years later, the LORD would bring our paths back together again, and they would be running for Congress 14 years later (www.wayneparker08.com). I don't think they dreamed they'd be running for Congress fourteen years later, but when GOD calls...you find yourself in places you never dreamed:).
Earlier this week, Lisa was speaking to a group in our town and after she finished, she called me at home and we decided to meet up town on the square. I met her a few minutes later where she was talking with some people in a local diner... a real hole in the wall...a place I wouldn't have chosen to go into, but the LORD led her steps there.
When I went in the diner, Lisa was sitting at a table and talking with a Dr. as he was eating his biscuits smothered in gravy. Lisa, in her usual way, was very inquisitive about what he was doing, and was very interested in his life. There are two things about Lisa that have stood out to me about her life through the years I have known her...her love for CHRIST and her love for people, all people. After we sat there a few more minutes, we got up to leave, and Lisa walked over to the waitress and started talking with her. On her way out, were some folks stuffed into a booth, and it was obvious Lisa had already talked with them as she spoke to them as we walked by. I am thinking in my mind, okay, who can we go see that would be good to see, in otherwise, I'm thinking "important" folks...people with influence. Well, we know more than get out the door, and there is a man standing there who could have almost been "homeless," that Lisa starts talking to. After a few minutes, we head on down the street, and stop in at the Printer's where one receptionist looked at us and didn't say anything and the other had her mouth stuffed full of food, and couldn't talk. Lisa introduced herself, and was just as patient and friendly as could be. I thought this is awkward- the receptionist was either really rude, or something was wrong with her. After the other lady swallowed her food, she began talking and explained to us the other girl was deaf...ugh, did I feel bad. Lisa took her time talking with her and then we walked down the street to the bank. There were certainly "important" folks in there, real important to me as they juggle the mistakes I make all the time with our account:). We walked in and i introduced her to my husband's cousin, and some of the tellers who worked there. After Lisa talking awhile, we moved along up the street to First Baptist , and stopped and talked with a girl who worked there. That young lady had the love of JESUS written all over her face with her sweet countenance and bright smile. After visiting with her, we met a couple of the maintenance workers. Then we met the Minister of Music and the pastor's secretary. The pastor and assistant pastor were in Senior Adult Bible School so we missed them, which I hated, they were certainly "important" folks to meet, but it didn't seem to matter to Lisa. We walked on down the street to the City Hall and I was going to introduce her to the Mayor, but he wasn't in...but that didn't seem to matter to Lisa, she talked to the office workers, graciously introducing herself and asking them to vote for her husband. We're starting to get a little short on time, and I'm thinking okay, where do we need to go where we can see folks... "important" folks. As we walk up the street towards the courthouse, we ran into my brother-in-law's Dad, and stop and talk with him a few minutes. As I'm thinking where to go next, I look up and Lisa is standing talking to two elderly men by their car. I walked up to them and gathered from the conversation that both men had lost their wives recently. Lisa listened and listened and I thought these men don't realize that she knows their pain...or maybe they did sense it from the compassion she showed them. She later told them that she had lost her first husband to cancer when he was in his twenty's and their baby was only an infant. After a while, the older gentlemen, who was 84 left. I overheard Lisa ask the other man if she could pray with him and she did. I don't know if she wept with him or not, I walked around the corner while they prayed, but I would imagine she did. She later told me that not only had he lost his wife in the past year, but also his son. It was starting to dawn on me that there was a whole lot more going on in our campaign outing than what my little eyes could see. As we walked around the square, I thought of a couple of other folks I wanted to introduce her to, one being the city attorney. On the way to his office, Lisa stopped and starts talking to construction workers, and a man opening up a new pizza place on the square. Unhurried as usual, and showing much interest in this young man's new business, Lisa talked with him about when his business was going to open, where he was from, his family, etc. As time was evaporating, we stopped by the city attorney's office, and he was busy and couldn't see us, but that didn't deter Lisa at all, she introduced herself to the receptionist and started talking with her. After we left the office...we walked on down the street back to the car. As we walked Lisa shared that she wasn't a "society" person , that her paths had always been more in ministry except for these season's of running for Congress that the LORD has called their family to. She shared it was out of her comfort zone to campaign, but it was clear to me, that she was very much in her comfort zone, loving the people she met on the street. Not the "important" folks that I had in my mind to introduce her to, but the folks that JESUS brought across her path, the poor, the downcast, the ones who were recent widower's, the young man who had dreams for his new business opening on the square...these were those the LORD was calling her to serve that morning, and Lisa was such an example to me of CHRIST as HIS love flowed through her on the streets of Athens, Al. last Tuesday morning. Although Lisa had to be at another function in Huntsville that afternoon, she insisted that we make time to pray together before heading to the next place that GOD had for her that day. What a precious time in prayer together it was..this dear wife and mom of four kids, relying on CHRIST to be her all in all for the place HE has called her to walk...and serve with her husband. Not an easy place to serve by any means, and a place where her faith is being stretched.
By the way, Lisa's Dad is Bill Archer, Congressman from Texas who is the Former Chairman of the House and Ways Committee for many years in Washington D.C. She is from "society" yet, GOD has given her the love of CHRIST for all of HIS children, whether they be doctors and lawyers, congressmen and women, the President of the United States, construction workers, housewives, waitresses, elderly, unemployed...she cares for them and takes time for them. Just this past year, Wayne and Lisa "adopted" a young man from Ethiopia, in the midst of their busy life with their four children, for his senior year to come and live with them and attend high school. Wayne and Lisa gave this young man many opportunities that he wouldn't have otherwise. One opportunity was spending time with a doctor in surgery. GOD used this doctor to inspire this young man to study medicine. After returning home to Ethiopia for a few weeks, "Fasil" is flying back to Huntsville, to began attending college in a few days and began his studies at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He eventually plans to return to his home country to practice medicine there.
You know, Lisa reminds me of JESUS, in so many ways, and she will be the first to tell you, it's because CHRIST died for her and saved her from her sins, and made her a new creature that she can even began to do what she does. She has a servant's heart, because CHRIST has put HIS love in her, and called her to be HIS own and serve HIM. As I was thinking about CHRIST and the life HE lived here on earth, I thought of HIM being our Creator, and Almighty GOD leaving HIS glorious home in heaven to come and be born in a stable or cave, live in poverty and to die on a cross for your sins and mine. .He "came to serve not be served," and "to lay down HIS life for us"...and HE calls us to "walk in HIS steps." I am so convicted as I see the pride in my own heart like I did this week, folks I would have overlooked to go to the more "important" folks. That's not CHRIST's way at all...in fact in James we are reminded as "believers in our glorious LORD JESUS CHRIST, don't show favoritism." JESUS loved and served all men, in fact his own disciples included Luke, the doctor, Matthew, the tax collector, and Peter and Andrew common fishermen. JESUS healed the leper's who were shunned by everyone else, HE cast 7 demons out of Mary Magdalene and healed her of her sin sickness and she was one of HIS most devoted followers. She was there in the shadows of the cross when he was crucified and the first woman he talked to when He was resurrected from the dead. He healed the woman of the well from her sin sickness whose reputation was less than desirable...and JESUS knew everything about her and loved her. HE knew she had been married 5 times...she got up from that encounter with JESUS at the dusty well forever changed and went and told everyone she knew about JESUS and what HE had done for her. When JESUS changes you, and saves you, and cleanses you from all your sin, you just can't help but tell others what HE's done for you...it's like trying to hold water gushing from a fire hydrant with your little finger...it just comes out when CHRIST lives inside you and you have the FOUNTAIN of LIVING WATERS flowing through you...actually it's more like Niagara Falls! JESUS fed the five thousand, the four thousand, and when the woman caught in adultery was brought to JESUS by the Pharisees to be stoned...he wrote something in the sand that ran them all off and He told her to go and sin no more.
Not only did JESUS, and HE continues to, love the poor, prostitutes, the common, He loved(s) the rich, those who were in "society" and held prestigious positions. HE loved the rich young ruler, and JESUS knew that the rich young ruler was putting his money above CHRIST. JESUS told him to go and sell all that he had and give it to the poor. HE doesn't require this of everyone...but JESUS knows what's in our hearts and that's exactly where HE will apply the pressure if we are withholding something from HIM. I remember when I was dating ...what a struggle that was as my boyfriend wasn't a believer. GOD put the pressure on me for a long time before I surrendered that relationship to CHRIST,and ultimately my heart. That was the one thing I was holding back that was keeping me from following CHRIST and being born again. JESUS "hounded" me about it, day after day, year after year, and HE finally helped me surrender my whole life to HIM when I surrendered my will to CHRIST and repented of my sins. Then GOD did an amazing work that I never dreamed possible. He gave my boyfriend back to me as a believer a few weeks later as the LORD saved him reading a Bible in his bedroom all alone. He has been my husband now for 25 years:)....wow, CHRIST's love is amazing!
Another man in a prestigious position that CHRIST loved was the Roman centurion in Luke 7:1-9. The centurion who was a man of great authority, and was concerned about one of his servant's who was about to die. In his humility and faith the centurion did not want to trouble JESUS with coming to his house, but believed that if JESUS just said the word his servant would be healed. CHRIST marveled at the great faith of the Roman Centurion, saying, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel," and HE healed the centurion's sick servant. In John 3, is the story of JESUS meeting Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees, a member of the Jewish ruling council at night, probably because Nicodemus was afraid to be seen with JESUS. JESUS told Nicodemus that "no one can see the kingdom of GOD unless HE is born again." Nicodemus asked JESUS how can a man be born when HE is old?...JESUS told Nicodemus in John 3:16-18 "For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS one and only Son, that whoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have eternal life. For GOD did not send HIS Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through HIM. Whoever believes in HIM is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of GOD's one and only SON." There are so many other examples in the Bible of those CHRIST met as journeyed through his everyday life and spent time with...some whose lives were changed for all eternity as they believed in CHRIST and others who weren't because of the hardness of their hearts. But through all of these people, CHRIST showed us how to love and how to live, not showing favoritism, or "being snobbish, or haughty, but adjusting ourselves to people and giving ourselves to humble tasks." Romans 12:16 says, "Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble." I sure did see this example in my dear sister in the LORD, Lisa. Through her kind and compassionate heart to all, I saw CHRIST's love and servant's heart to all those she met that morning around the square.
Charles Spurgeon speaks of this servant's heart of CHRIST in his writing for August 14 when he says: "CHRISTian, if you are...saved, be grateful and loving. Cling to the Cross that took your sin away, serve HIM who served you. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of GOD, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto GOD, which is your reasonable service" Romans 12:1. Charles Spurgeon exhorts us, "Do not let your zeal evaporate...show your love in expressive ways. Love the brethren of HIM who loved you...if there is a poor tried believer, weep with him and bear his cross for the sake of HIM who wept for you and carried your sins. Since you are thus forgiven freely for CHRIST's sake, go and tell to others the joyful news of pardoning mercy. Do not be content with this unspeakable blessing for yourself alone, but publish abroad the story of the Cross. Holy gladness and holy boldness will make you a good preacher, and all the world will be a pulpit for you to preach in."
The Greene's (www.thegreenesgospel.com) sing a song, called "A Servant's Heart," that ministers to my heart so very much. It reminds me of Lisa's call, my call, and the call of all of CHRIST's children to serve HIM here on earth. Sometime's I am really eager to serve CHRIST, and then there are other places HE calls me to serve that I am more reluctant, but HE compels me to go. Through my suffering, CHRIST is gently and not so gently at times, tearing my self determined will apart to help me have a servant's heart wherever HE compels me to go. I can tell you, my heart is still very much a work in progress...thankfully, "I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you(me) will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6
Thank you so much for your prayers for our family. John Mac begins a new school Monday, the University of Alabama in Huntsville and I sure would appreciate you remembering him as he will be adjusting to a new school and taking difficult classes. Please pray the LORD will continue to show him favor through his college years as HE did at Calhoun. Pray for us as we get back in the full swing of homeschool, that CHRIST would be our all in all...teaching and guiding us in all that we are and do. Please remember Lisa and Wayne and their dear family, as they seek to serve the LORD with all their hearts in this race CHRIST has compelled them to run. Also, Fasil, their adopted son, missed his plane for the 3rd time this week...for reasons only the LORD knows. Please pray he will be able to fly Saturday and make it in time to start classes at UAH on Monday.
With all HIS love,
mitzi
A Servant's Heart
by Felecia Shiflett, Dave Clark
He compels me to go when I would rather stay
He sent me another valley once again today
My self determined will, He keeps tearing me apart
But when the works completed
I'll have a servant's heart
Chorus:
I want a servant's heart and I will gladly bare
The markings of one held captive yet free
Not my will but thine for LORD in your own time
Only you can make a servant's heart
More and more LORD I see,
there's a work that I must do
And FATHER may YOU find me
faithful, trusting only YOU.
Take all that I have been and
make YOUR will to start
And I'll serve no other Master with my servant's heart.
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