Thursday, September 10, 2015

Live Online Event Tonight! My Heart A Calm Sea


Dear Praying Friends and Family,
    It's been over two years since i posted on this blog...wow, a long time:). I'm blowing the dust off this blog and posting here.  I'm sorry i can't get everything to be the same color on the page.  I have forgotten some things, so please forgive me for the way it looks.  I felt led to fill you in just a little what's been going on with me and wanted to invite you to tune in tonight to a live Plexus event.  If you haven't heard of Plexus...tune in tonight at 8:30 pm by clicking on the link and you'll hear more what it can do for you.
     My health struggles continued, and when i quit posting in the blog, i had just begun a heavy metal detox.  It was a little hard on me, and still haven't been able to get that thyroid working up to par and just didn't have the energy to write the blog.  Just had to feel it was a GOD thing.  In December of last year, after i continued to struggle with energy and IV's were coming weekly now, GOD led me to try a product called Plexus.  It has helped to balance me and after 5 weeks i was on the Slim, i was able to get off of IV's...praise the LORD!!!! He answered a long time prayer of mine!  I also have had increased energy, sleep great, increased focus, lost inches, and hopefully some weight as my body continues to heal, and started a business...sharing Plexus! Johnny lost over 20 lbs his first five months on Plexus and his cholesterol, triglycerides, and glucose went down to normal limits and his BP was in good range.  As a missionary nurse, i felt GOD called me to be, i am so encouraged by these simple and affordable few products that get to the root of our problems...balancing blood sugar, hormones, detox, and healing the gut.  So, this past year has been a new journey for me, and I'm so grateful for the improvement in health i'm continuing to experience, and for the business opportunity GOD has brought into my life to share health and a business opportunity with others.  Tonight on youtube...     https://www.youtube.com/user/PlexusU/live  there will be a 30 minute live event where you can learn more about it.  If you, are your loved ones are struggling from diabetes, allergies, autoimmune, asthma, obesity, tiredness, crankiness, really anything,  i really encourage you to watch this and give it a try...there is a 60 day money back guarantee, and over an 80 percent success rate with Plexus products.  I've learned a lot on my long health journey, and Plexus has included some of the key ingredients for allowing our bodies to be heal as GOD intended.  http://hisgraceissufficienthealth.com/2015/09/10/plexus-live-event-tonight-free-product-with-a-purchase-for-those-who-watch/
     I'm asking you to pray about this opportunity. My friend Anna, my grandmother in the business, is 24 years old and she has already earned a trip to the Leaders Retreat coming up in Oct.  She is trying to earn some more points so she can take her sis to the spa with her Mom and other sister. Anything you order before Sept. 15, will help her earn that spa for her and her sis.  You can order directly through my website...www.hisgraceissufficient.myplexusproducts.com

    I also have another prayer request:  I am close to earning the trip myself but i still have chemical sensitivities and traveling can be a challenge for me.  Please pray for wisdom if GOD does bless me with the points if i should go or stay.  My family is really leaning towards me staying....and at this point, i'm not sure what to do.  Thanks so much!

   We are expecting our first grandbaby in December and really thankful and excited!  Hannah Beth and Matt's baby is due December the 6th!  So i've been hitting yard sales, and antique shops, painting and getting ready for the new little guy! 
    
   Going to have to wrap this up, but wanted to close in sharing this devotion i read this morning...it is so perfect for right where I'm walking. I pray it will be a great comfort and blessing to you too.  I want my heart to be like that calm sea...where nothing rattles it, but knowing my FATHER does what is perfect for me.  

                                                                                  His Grace is Sufficient!
                                                                                             mitzi
                                                                                    
I have had the privilege of continuing to play the drums for our KING of KINGs going on 4 years now at FBC, Athens, Al.  The choir is singing this beautiful song Sunday.  This is where I feel ive been walking recently...love this!  www.fbcathens.org.  Come and worship with us if you don't have a church home.  Our pastor will be a starting a series on Marriage this coming Sunday.  
                                         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLdxOKEuoHU


     Streams In the Desert for September 10
“The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.”(Psalm 138:8.)
There is a Divine mystery in suffering, a strange and supernatural power in it, which has never been fathomed by the human reason. There never has been known great saintliness of soul which did not pass through great suffering. When the suffering soul reaches a calm sweet carelessness, when it can inwardly smile at its own suffering, and does not even ask God to deliver it from suffering, then it has wrought its blessed ministry; then patience has its perfect work; then the crucifixion begins to weave itself into a crown.

It is in this state of the perfection of suffering that the Holy Spirit works many marvelous things in our souls. In such a condition, our whole being lies perfectly still under the hand of God; every faculty of the mind and will and heart are at last subdued; a quietness of eternity settles down into the whole being; the tongue grows still, and has but few words to say; it stops asking God questions; it stops crying, “Why hast thou forsaken me?”

The imagination stops building air castles, or running off on foolish lines; the reason is tame and gentle; the choices are annihilated; it has no choice in anything but the purpose of God. The affections are weaned from all creatures and all things; it is so dead that nothing can hurt it, nothing can offend it, nothing can hinder it, nothing can get in its way; for, let the circumstances be what they may, it seeks only for God and His will, and it feels assured that God is making everything in the universe, good or bad, past or present, work together for its good.
Oh, the blessedness of being absolutely conquered! Of losing our own strength. And wisdom, and plans, and desires, and being where every atom of our nature is like placid Galilee under the omnipotent feet of our Jesus -- Soul Food.
The great thing is to suffer without being discouraged. -- Fenelon.
     


Friday, April 26, 2013

"Live Like You Are Dying"


But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." 2 Corinthians 12:9

Dear Praying Friends and Family,
   I am sorry i have not been very good to write lately.  I have been doing some chelation to get heavy metals out of me, and it makes me really tired.  I sure would appreciate your prayers for me as i go through this process. I tried to write Sunday, and got part of it done, and never was able to get back to it.  I have decided GOD doesn't mean for me to write much right now, and to quit trying to force myself.  He is the one who writes through me, apart from HIM i can't do anything.
   I just got off the phone with Mrs. Eudy, and i appreciate ya'll praying for her so much.  She was scheduled to have surgery for the brain aneurysm this past Monday in Louisville. When the doctors examined her again, it was much more complicated than what they anticipated, and one of the doctors said, if it was my Mom i wouldn't do it.  The aneurysm is 12 mm which is more than double what they usually see.  Please pray she will be able to take the medicine which will enable them to be able to put a stint in and shrink the aneurysm.  She is having problems taking it, and they are switching her to a different color one tomorrow in hopes she will be able to take it.  In the midst of all this, GOD is doing some really neat things and one of them is her pharmacist son is there with her from Hawaii, and she beat him in Scrabble the other night!  That is great...Mrs. Eudy is so competitive!  A couple of weeks ago, her daughter wrote that she had a bad night and coded twice in the emergency room...Mrs. Eudy regretted the ambulance having to take her to the hospital in the middle of the Braves baseball game!  Thank you for your prayers for this dear saint...out of all of this, her one desire is that her son, Michael, will come to know JESUS as his LORD and SAVIOR.  Please pray this with her that the LORD will save him.
      We had a wonderful week of revival at our church this past week...and it was truly a taste of heaven.  The preaching was by a man who has a large blood clot and aneurysm in his heart and the doctors don't expect him to live very long without a heart transplant.  But, he hasn't let that slow him down too much...and most of his stories were about bull riding, champion fillies, hunting bears and lions.  He was the most interesting evangelist i've ever heard.  Sunday night he message was about "Live Like You Are Dying."  It was so powerful...and we all came away challenged to make the most of our time on earth count for JESUS.  Another great blessing of the revival was The Akin family, www.theakinsonline.com.  We had the privilege of eating with them on Monday afternoon, and getting to know them a little bit and what a blessing their love and fellowship in CHRIST JESUS was to us.  Their testimonies of GOD's faithfulness in their lives to answer their prayers and take care of them were so powerful...they were the real deal and they blessed me personally so much.  Monday night after the revival, they invited me to play their electronic drums, and i had a blast playing with them...GOD just blessed the socks off of me through their kindness and love.

     Well, the revival continues and i wanted to invite all of you to our Ladies Conference at FBC, Athens, www.fbcathens.org coming up a week from tomorrow.  Our speaker, Joanna Weaver is coming all the way from Montana, and i know that you will be so blessed.  We have been studying her book, Lazarus Awakening, during our Monday morning Ladies Bible Study and it has encouraged me so much that GOD truly can bring us out of our "tombs," whether it is new life in CHRIST, or freeing us from the things we are in bondage too.  I hope you will call this weekend and get your tickets for this special time in the LORD.



   A friend asked me if i would share their Ladies Banquet with you which is the same day as our Conference...wish i could be in two places at once!  This sounds like a wonderful study about Israel, and i would love to be there too...that's where we are all going to live one day, all of us in CHRIST, in the New Jerusalem, and i can't wait!  I hope you can make plans to attend one of these Ladies Conferences and be refreshed and encouraged in the LORD.



    Some of you may be wondering about Dana Grammer Sanchez and her son, Zach.  The last i heard from Dana, the court date to get Zach returned was going to be in June 1 i think.  It was moved from April.  Her husband is working here in Athens, i believe, and Dana is teaching school...and they are so happy to be back in Alabama.  

     For my friends out in the DFW area, i wanted to mention the Duck Dynasty gang is going to be at Prestonwood Baptist's Crisis Pregnancy Fund raiser next week...wow, would i love to be out there!  You can learn how to get tickets here http://www.prestonwood.org/event/439417-2013-05-05-pregnancy-center-dinner-with-the-dynasty/.  

   Well, that's about all i can think of and i do appreciate you remembering me in your prayers...oh, something big, Hannah Beth is graduating May 10 from the University of Mobile!  Praise GOD from whom all blessings flow!  Thank you so much for your faithful prayers for her to pray her through school.  Also, my daughter in law, Amanda will be graduating from Physical Therapy Assistant school the same weekend and we are so very proud and thankful for all of her hard work...to GOD be the glory great things HE has done!  Please remember HB in your prayers...she has been sick for a couple of weeks, and had to take some drugs this week, sure would appreciate your prayers for her.  She is working in the emergency room, tonight and tomorrow night, and then will be through!  Yea and Praise the LORD!!! Thank you so much for all of your dear prayers for us...

                                                                                               With all HIS love,
                                                                                                       mitzi

PS...So proud of my brothers riding their bicycles over 170 miles in Texas this past weekend for MS!  Way to go guys!


This is the reason i started putting my letters on a blog, because i forget things and can add them easily:). 
    Tonight when i was talking with Mrs. Eudy, she started talking hurriedly to someone else in the background.  I ask her if she needed to hang up and she said, "Hang on, something is wrong with my roommate, and i'm calling for help." It was understandable for her to be cautious since her last roommate died on her:). She said, the lady was coughing and had quit.  She was unable to hear so Mrs. Eudy couldn't ask what was wrong.  In a short time, someone came to see what was wrong, and Mrs. Eudy told me the lady beside her was taking her teeth out and needed somewhere to put her teeth:)!  Mrs. Eudy and I laughed and laughed at each other, and the seemingly serious situation, wasn't serious...just some teeth needing a resting place:).
    "Live Like You Are Dying," Mrs. Eudy and her family are such examples of that...through her very serious journey with her health, they have managed to love, laugh, and make JESUS known to those around them.  I want to be like that...."teeth" and all.  Love,mitzi

First Baptist Women's Conference, May 4th with Joanna Weaver



Dear Friends,
   Sure hope you will plan to attend our Women's Conference coming up next weekend with Joanna Weaver.  She is coming all the way from Montana...you will be blessed in the LORD through this day of HIS refreshing and encouragement to us. We look forward to seeing you there! 
                                                                                      Love,
                                                                                       mitzi




Sunday, March 17, 2013

"I'll Feed the World Through Your Kitchen"



If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded.Mark 9:41



Dear Praying Friends and Family,

  A few weeks ago i had the wonderful opportunity to go and hear Barbara Barker speak at the Excalibur Ladies Retreat at Joe Wheeler St. Park. What a wonderful time i had and i am so grateful for all of my dear friends who worked so hard to make the retreat so very special for us. 

      The guest speaker, Barbara Barker is the wife of Reverend Frank Barker who is the pastor Emeritus of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in B'ham, Al. I have known of Mrs. Barker since my college days at the University of Montevallo where i was nurtured in the LORD through Campus Outreach, a ministry of Briarwood Presbyterian.  Her son, Frank, Jr. was a student there at Montevallo the same year i attended.



Mrs. Barker with my dear friend Gena, two queens of hospitality!!!

Mrs. Barker shared her testimony with us at the retreat the first evening, and there is a story she told that keeps resonating through my mind. In fact, i had heard her tell the story from her life the only other time i heard her speak and still remembered parts of it.


     I didn't realize that GOD used Frank Barker Sr. to start Briarwood from a storefront in Birmingham. Frank was quite a rounder in his younger days, and the LORD began to convict his heart of his sins while he was a pilot in the military. Frank stopped drinking and decided to go to seminary trying to be good enough to go to heaven. It was during seminary that Frank realized he was not a CHRISTian and CHRIST saved him from his sins during that time. 


     When Frank came back to B'ham, GOD led him to start a church in a storefront. Because of his background and he knew lots of people, they were amazed at the Frank Barker being a preacher now. When GOD led Frank and Barbara to get married, Frank poured his life into reaching others for CHRIST. One of the ways HE laid on Franks heart to do this was through the Barker's home. Barbara was not really raised to do this, it didn't sound like. She was raised in a wealthy home, as Frank was, and she was a ballerina....in fact, she danced in New York, and California, and other places. Eventually, GOD would use her to start the Briarwood Ballet at their church. When Frank invited a fraternity over for a meal, it just about killed her. How in the world could she prepare for that many people? There were around 30 guys i believe. She decided to make sloppy joe's cause that was easy but she still struggled with feeding this many people, and she even started crying as she was serving them. Well, that night, GOD not only brought 30 people to her house, but about 60 more in addition! Barbara said she watered the sloppy joe's with her tears, and GOD multiplied the food and it fed all the people! 





     "I'll feed the world from your kitchen, I'll feed the world, from your kitchen, I'll feed the world from your kitchen."  


   I have been "ruminating" on this the three weeks or so it's been since the retreat..."I'll feed the world from your kitchen."  To say i was inspired by Barbara Barker's obedience would be an understatement... she was so humble about her unwillingness yet GOD blessed through her obedience to her husband in the little things to grow a huge church that literally reaches the uttermost parts of the world for CHRIST through it's outreach...www.briarwood.org. Even as i write i am convicted....i sure do grumble about being obedient to my husband in some areas.   What testimony am i building by being obedient in the little things?  What blessings am i missing and others missing by  me not being obedient? Are others salvation at stake?   



     I pause  because i'm not sure which way to continue here....but my thoughts in the past few weeks have been GOD, i want you to use my kitchen to feed the world, one person at a time.  The LORD knows i have struggled in this area with my physical weakness, but since the retreat, i have really tried to focus on the LORD using me to show HIS love and hospitality to, if it's one person like my husband, or having supper for Phillip and Arthur before we all rush off to church on Weds. night or a small group of ladies that meets for our Tuesday night study....HE wants to use our home to be faithful and bless others with HIS love and hospitality and HE wants to use yours.  And HE has used some of you  to bless our family  through your wonderful hospitality....thank you for showing us the love of CHRIST by sharing your time, your home, your food, your beds, your "toys," your fellowship in CHRIST JESUS, to bless our lives so much.








    When i looked up verses on hospitality as i was getting ready to write this, i came across a website that shared 72 verses concerning hospitality in the Bible! http://www.openbible.info/topics/hospitality.   72 verses of dying to self and showing GOD's love and kindness to others....HE even promises that if we just give a cup of cold water to someone in HIS name we will be blessed for it.  And as i write, i am reminded that JESUS tells us when we have a party, don't  invite those who are able to invite us back," invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.  For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." Luke 14: 12-14




     Wow, i could go a lot of places with that verse, but I am reminded of how great a blessing it is to someone who can never repay you to be shown the love of CHRIST through our small acts of denying self and kindness. CHRIST uses the blessings HE has given us, our home, our kitchen, our beds,  (they are actually HIS) to show others HIS love and salvation.  

     My house, my kitchen, my desk, my very body are meant to be holy places in this world for the eternal GOD." Elisabeth Elliot, www.elisabethelliot.org

     "Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the LORD of hosts." Zechariah 14:21


    GOD will use our forks, our knives, our spoons, our cups, and our willing hearts to transform them into something supernatural that reaches the hearts of others for CHRIST.

     When i was a child, we had a neighbor who was so open and so loving and she was forever talking about "getting saved."  I wasn't sure what that meant, but i do know i always loved getting to eat her potato chips and French onion dip when i was at her house.  We only had chips for special occasions growing up, and we never had French onion dip!   Mrs. Mooney not only shared her food, but she shared her life, and she was always inviting us to VBS, youth camp, etc.  I know three of us siblings prayed to receive CHRIST through her church ministry....and GOD used Mrs. Mooney and her sharing her potato chips and French onion dip and her life to open our hearts up to CHRIST.

Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.I Peter 4:9

    There is something supernatural about our kitchens, and our homes, ladies....and GOD wants to use us and our kitchens and our acts of love to reach the world for HIM. I know my heart has been stirred by Barbara Barker's example.  LORD help me to be faithful in the little things, maybe only one person, but use me like you used my neighbor Mrs. Mooney, and like you do Barbara Barker to feed the world's hungry stomachs and hearts from my kitchen....one soul at a time.




      One of the beautiful songs we sang at the retreat was 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E.  As I listen to this song, i am reminded of the reason that we show CHRIST's hospitality and love to others...."YOU're Rich in love, and You're slow to anger, You're name is great, and your heart is kind, for all your goodness, i will keep on singing, 10,000 reasons for my heart to find.
"Bless the LORD, o my soul, worship HIS holy name, sing like never before o my soul, i worship HIS holy name." 


    When we show hospitality to others, we are being like CHRIST who laid down HIS life for us that we might be forgiven our sins, and come into HIS fellowship and live with HIM forever in the HOME HE is preparing for us!  Wow....i have never seen this connection before, but thank you JESUS for showing me this truth.

        LORD, give us willing hearts and help us all to lay down our lives, that YOUR RICH love might flow through us to reach others for you through a cup of cold water, a potato chip, a sloppy joe, whatever.  You turn our littleness into something that opens people's hearts to you when we do it in YOUR name....thank you JESUS for using our kitchens, our homes to reach the world for you...one soul at a time. 

                                                                                        With all HIS love,
                                                                                                     mitzi

       
My sis and I got the wonderful privilege of meeting Mrs. Barker!




-- 
               
"Jesus Saves"                              




















Sunday, March 10, 2013

"Nothing is Impossible with GOD"



Dear Praying Friends and Family,
     Mrs. Eudy's daughter, Susan, just posted this update on FB so i wanted to share it with you...she is a lot more concise that i am:).  
    

Update from her daughter:
Thank you friends and family for your prayers, calls, texts, visit, etc. while mom has been so sick. This past 6 weeks she has recovered from emergency surgery, blood clots, internal bleeding, and pneumonia. She is now facing a brain aneurysm and possible problems with her liver. She has felt your love and your prayers. Even in the middle of all the medical chaos her saving faith in our LORD Jesus Christ shines through her and she has had sweet time with friends and family that I am so thankful for. Please continue to pray for her - this week could be tough. As many of you know she lives her day on GOD's Word. Feel free to share one of your favs & I will be sure to read it to her.





 Thank you so much for your faithful prayers for Mrs. Eudy and her family  I was talking with her son, Gene Jr. yesterday afternoon, he said the clots are gone, the internal bleeding has cleared up since she is off the blood thinner, the break in her bone was a hairline fracture so it's a none issue.   The LORD has already amazingly  healed  her in so many ways!  Before Mrs. Eudy left rehab, she told me that Dr. Mancuso had examined her and was amazed at how well her incision had healed.  She was cut from her below her breastbone to below her belly button.  When i looked, i too was amazed!  Only GOD's healing power could do that...she looked like she had had surgery a year or so ago!  


      Her son also shared that the more chaotic things become with his Mom's health challenges, the more CHRIST's presence and power they feel in the midst of the storm.  









What a great blessing and example of CHRIST's peace the Eudy family is to all who know them!  Her daughter posted the picture below on her FB page this morning and this says it all...




    

    We are experiencing REVIVAL at our church and I would ask you to please lift up our services tonight at 6:00 pm and tomorrow evening at 6:30 pm and then again Tuesday night at 6:30 pm.  If you live close enough to us...please come and join us at FBC, Athens, but if not, i would ask you to please pray the HOLY SPIRIT will have HIS way in each of our hearts and truly REVIVE his people.  This REVIVAL is not geared towards "the lost" per say, but it is geared toward our church family that CHRIST would work and have HIS way in our hearts.

    One of our deacons shared a short video, called "Defining Moments," from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association on our church FB site a few minutes ago.  I watched it and it is a powerful video...how GOD transformed three different lives.  HE did that for me when i was 19 years old in a youth revival at Central Baptist in Decatur, Al.  He saved me from my sins, and gave me the power to walk with HIM and turn away from my sins.  How i praise HIM!  He can do that in your life too...HE wants to transform us and HE wants to REVIVE us again!  I hope you will take time to watch this short video and share it with your family and friends....http://www.billygraham.org/TVSpecial/tv_index.asp 

    Thank you for praying for Mrs. Eudy and for our Revival...."Nothing is impossible with GOD!"

                                                                                                                                               With all HIS love,
                                                                                                                                               mitzi


-- 
               
"Jesus Saves"                              

Friday, March 8, 2013

"Blessed Assurance"


"And we know that GOD causes all things to work together for good to those who love GOD, to those who are called according to HIS purpose." Romans 8:28



Dear Praying Friends and Family,
    For those who aren't on my regular praying email list, Mrs. Eudy has been a dear, dear spiritual mother to me for close to 30 years.  She has suffered from dysautonomia the whole time i have known her.  Recently her daughter made the decision to move her to Ky to be close to her and the move was delayed a month by an emergency surgery and then rehabilitation in which Mrs. Eudy developed a blood clot, and at the end pneumonia.  She moved into her new home on Wednesday and then passed out Thursday morning and stopped breathing three times. The doctors were not very encouraging on Thursday about Mrs. Eudy's condition....but today, GOD brought new hope and the reassurance that truly HE does work all things together for good to those who love HIM and are called according to HIS purposes. Romans 8:28  Please pray for Mrs. Eudy and her family! 


    
    This morning, Mrs. Eudy's daughter called me and told me that the fall Mrs. Eudy had yesterday that broke a bone in her back was  turning out to be a blessing.  The doctors discovered through examining her so thoroughly for the fall that she had internal bleeding, not caused by the fall, but by the blood thinner she was on for the blood clot!  If she had not fallen and the internal bleeding been discovered she could have bled to death before it was detected. She is still in a difficult position with the internal bleeding and blood clot so please pray about that and she has pneumonia.  They have taken her off the blood thinner, and running more test on her today.  Because the break in her back is like breaking a rib or tail bone, she won't have to have any treatment for that...just uncomfortableness as she recovers.  




    Susan, Mrs. Eudy's daughter, was full of gratefulness to the LORD for the doctors  discovering the internal bleeding, and the fall.  She thanked GOD for his tender mercies of allowing Mrs. Eudy to be blessed and be a blessing to so many of her dear friends and family during her time of being in the hospital and rehab here, and now in Kentucky, her close family is with her.  Susan realized whether GOD leaves Mrs. Eudy on earth for 10 years or takes her HOME today, this time will always be a treasure that HE gave to her and to us to tell her how very special she is to all of us.  We have been able to continue to be blessed by her most precious and dear life.  Just as an example of her love for others, in the hospital and rehab, she made it a point to remember all the staff's names, and thanked them graciously by their names whenever they came to help her.  She kept a sweet smile on her face even in the midst of great discomfort....what an example to me she has been of a suffering saint. Susan said the things that most people say at a person's funeral is what we have all been able to share with Mrs. Eudy before she leaves this earth. 


    Please continue to pray for Mrs. Eudy and her family...her son from Hawaii is arriving tonight, along with her son in law, Doug.  Please ask the LORD to spare her long enough to get to spend time with them if HE should choose to take her home soon. 

   I  read the words to "Blessed Assurance" this morning and dusted off my mandolin and sang them as i played.  

"Blessed Assurance, JESUS is mine! 
  O what a foretaste of glory divine!
 Heir of salvation, purchase of GOD
 Born of HIS Spirit, washed in HIS blood.

Perfect submission, perfect delight!
Visions of rapture, not burst on my sight,
Angels descending looking above,
Echos of mercy, whispers of love.

Perfect submission-all is at rest,
I in my Savior and happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with HIS goodness, lost in HIS love.

This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my SAVIOR all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my SAVIOR all the day long!

    This song, is such a picture of Mrs. Eudy, and her family....perfect submission, perfect delight....Praising their SAVIOR all the day long!

   I love this version of "Blessed Assurance" that Alan Jackson sings....surely much better than mine!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9XZ_HSquUQ
    
Thank you so much for your precious prayers for her and her family....i love you and appreciate you so much!     

                            Mrs. Eudy-praising her SAVIOR all the day long! 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                      With all HIS love,
                                                                                            mitzi


Sunday, March 3, 2013

"The Gas Pump Pastor"






"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." II Corinthians 5:20

Dear Praying Friends and Family,




    Earlier this week i stopped in at our local "Wavaho" station to get some gas.  I got out of the car  and went inside to prepay.  When i got inside, i ask the man behind the counter if he was a new owner. He said he was, and he went out to my car and started pumping my gas.  As he pumped my gas we began to talk and he told me that he was the pastor of a small church in our town.  He told me he owned a gas station previously in Madison.  When he took the beer out of the store, they told him he would never make it.  He took the beer out and he said the LORD blessed him abundantly there  for six years.  





    When i went home i wanted to share with my friends on FB that we had a new service station owner in town who pumped the gas and he was a pastor.  I asked the folks to go by and support him.  Most of my friends were super supportive, but one dear friend didn't think he should be pastoring and working at another job.  We had a lively discussion on FB about it and i finally had to go and the conversation ended.  The next day a new friend on FB who is called the  "Facebook Pastor," read the conversation and  asked me if he could write a blog about the gas pump pastor.  I was really honored and i thought you might be blessed as i was to read what GOD impressed upon his heart to write:




"The Gas Pump and Pastor Jack- of -All-Trades- Bivocational Ministers"

http://darrellcreswell.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/the-gas-pump-pastor-jack-of-all-trades-bivocational-ministers/

    Special thanks to "the Facebook Pastor" for the name "The Gas Pump Pastor," and for the words on the gas pump photo:  "Real Men of GOD pump gas."

   The next morning i went by the Wavaho station and told the pastor/service station owner about what had happened on FB and about the "Facebook Pastor" who wrote a blog about him.  He started reading it on my Iphone and he stopped and said he would have to read the rest of it at home.  I could tell he was overcome with emotion.  He told me to get anything i wanted in the store and i took a bottle of water to make him happy.  I started to shake his hand as i left and he said no he wanted a hug.  I could tell he really was encouraged that GOD had put it on someone's heart to write about him.




  Before i left, a man came in and he was older and his shoulders were kind of slumped.  He said he was tired and that his wife was in the hospital.  I asked him about her, and he just opened up and started talking about her.  It  dawned on me right then and there what an opportunity this "gas pump pastor" has to be used for CHRIST right there at that service station where he  follow's CHRIST's example and pumps the gas for women and the elderly.    I told him pumping the gas is such a witness now because now one else does it. He is a LIGHT shining in the darkness for CHRIST as he serves the women and elderly, and every time someone pulls up to the pump and walks through the doors of his humble gas station, that is his mission field....an opportunity to minister to someone who needs to know CHRIST or just needs a listening ear, or needs to be encouraged.





   As i drove by that service station yesterday morning with the snow flakes swirling, i had a strange warm feeling in my heart.  I wanted to drive by there, and i wanted to pray for that pastor and his mission field at the service station...all those people he would get to talk to that day about JESUS because he ran a gas station.

   Today as i was thinking about "the gas pump pastor," i thought of my own dear husband who runs a catfish/barbque restaurant http://www.oldgreenbrier.com/aboutus.html 
and a bail bond business, and that is his mission field.  I struggled so badly when my husband had to leave the "full time" church he pastored because of my sickness.  If it hadn't been for his mom and dad helping us financially we wouldn't have been able to stay at the church as long as we did without him taking another job.  My heart was warmed thinking about our little restaurant that sits at the corner of a four way stop being my husband's mission field and all who go in and out the doors have special needs, hurts, joys, or need CHRIST JESUS.  The bailbond business has given Johnny so many opportunities to witness and help out families who find themselves in a position they never expected to be in.  I have marveled at my husband's patience and kindness to these families who call at all times of the day and night and he gets many opportunities to share CHRIST with his "flock." 



Our "Mission Field"



     Yes it was difficult when we left the "full time," ministry, to transition to another "fulltime," ministry for CHRIST.  Going in the family Barbque business WAS NOT the place i wanted GOD to use us i can assure you of that.   GOD has used "The Gas Pump Pastor," and the words of the FB Pastor to encourage my heart in the place where GOD has had us serving him the past 20 years.  A "full time" church, no...but a "full time" mission field yes.  Whether GOD has you on the mission field pumping gas, cooking hushpuppies,  selling insurance, being a "Facebook Pastor, " or a doctor, or an evangelist like Billy Graham, HE knows just the place HE has created  for us to know HIM and share the salvation that is found in CHRIST alone with others. 

    "Our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST is the actual power house and abiding in HIM, that is, plugged into HIM by faith, we transmit HIS saving power to others." Hannah Hurnard, GOD's Transmitters




    This morning, the LORD brought this beautiful song across my path called, "Give Me JESUS," sung by Fernando Ortega.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y16oxqTENxs&feature=youtu.be .At the beginning it has Billy Graham preaching on his mission field.  His mission field is not a service station, but it is not  more important than the mission field that GOD has given you and me to share CHRIST.  

       It's taken me a long time to be content where GOD has us serving HIM.  I confess i still struggle at times, but GOD has used "The Gas Pump Pastor," to inspire me to realize the family business is our mission field to serve HIM just as HE is using "the Gas Pump Pastor" to reach the world for HIM.  I hope and pray GOD will use these words to encourage your heart in the place that GOD has you on the mission field...reaching the lost for CHRIST.
                                                                                       With all HIS love,
                                                                                                               mitzi




     
      

-- 
               
"Jesus Saves"