This is a goofy picture that Jen took of herself on Sunday. It shows the fun loving side of her personality, and believe me, Jennifer likes to have fun! Jen, you are a joy to be around, and I always enjoy it when we can spend time together.  18 years ago, God gave me a precious gift when He gave me you.  It’s been wonderful watching you grow through every stage of your life, and I am proud of the fine young lady that you have become.  Happy 18th birthday, baby!

All my love,

Mom

*** If anybody wants to see some really nice pictures of Jen(taken by an awesome photographer) click here.

He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

Jim Elliot

Are fear knots or “fear nots” guiding your way

when it seems your path is filled with dismay?

At trying times you must make a choice

to whom you will listen, which voice.

As life’s circumstances you closely survey,

Are fear knots or “fear nots” guiding your way?

Is anxiousness the only sound heard,

or are you tuning in to God’s Holy Word?

Down the human path you are called to trod.

When the testing comes, does it seem rather odd?

Are fear knots or “fear nots” guiding your way?

Will adversity cause you to earnestly pray?

Trials will come, a fact that is sure.

Abiding in God is the only true cure.

When perplexity knocks will your soul find a stay?

Are fear knots or “fear nots” guiding your way?

10/26/09

Isaiah 43:1  But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

Isaiah 44:8  Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.

Isaiah 51:7  Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

Psalm 118:6  The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?

Matthew 10:28  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

10:29  Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

10:30  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

10:31  Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Luke 12:32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

My husband recently shared an article with me that was written by another pastor. I thought it was good food for thought, so I’m going to share it. May we all seek to develop more of a God’s eye view of life.

In West Virginia-Kentucky backcountry along the Tug Fork River, lived two families (that turned into warring clans) in the late 1800’s. The first recorded instance of violence in the famous feuding, as legends go, occurred after a dispute about the ownership of a hog. It became, after much feuding over this and that, that the mere mention of “Hatfield” to a McCoy brought instant angst as likewise did the mere mention of “McCoy” did to a Hatfield.

No matter how “right” a statement might have been if the statement in any way spoke other than evil of the opposing clan it was rejected and belittled. The glasses that the McCoys wore were always Hatfield-colored and the spectacles of the Hatfields were always McCoy-colored. This warped perspective blinded the wearer to any good within the other clan—even the children.

I tremble to think that sometimes I may have slipped on a pair of some colored glasses that rather than aids my sight actually blinds me. I read the words in Revelation imploring the Ladocieans to buy eye-salve that they might see and realize how easy it is to think that we see when, in fact, we are blind.

Perspective is everything—someone has said. Indeed, the perspective we need is one far above the walls of flesh and prejudices of men; far above my friends and my enemies as well—the God-eye-view is what we need to pray fervently for!

Are there certain “KEY WORDS” that trigger blindness in us? Do we allow an enemy to blind us of the good about him? Do we let our puny human emotions of pride prevent us from clear sight? Does “our clan” prevent us from seeing rightly “their clan?”

“How do you see?” Asked Jesus to the man that just received his sight. “I see men as trees walking.” He replied. And Jesus touched him again—and he saw all men clearly. I, for one, need God to touch my eyes—again—and again so that I can see all men clearly.

Elder James Groce

I’ve been sadly lacking in the blogging area of my life due to trying to juggle family, church, homeschool, work and just plain living. However, I came across a quote today that I really liked, so I want to share it.  (I wasn’t able to find who said this.)

IT’S NOT WHAT YOU GATHER,

BUT WHAT YOU SCATTER THAT TELLS

WHAT KIND OF LIFE YOU HAVE LIVED!

Several weeks ago, I got a call from a lady who has visited our church on and off for a few months. As soon as she started talking, I knew something was wrong, and she went on to tell me the story of how her 8 month old granddaughter died in her arms.  An autopsy was done later and a cause of death could not be determined. They are considering it SIDS.  My heart broke for her. She was struggling with all the “whys”, battling depression and dealing with feelings of anger toward God for letting it happen. I told her what I felt God wanted me to say at the time, prayed with her over the phone and really encouraged her to be in church the next day. She was in church the next day and cried through much of the service. My husband talked with her quite a bit after service too.  During the next few weeks we did not see her. Every time I called or tried going by her house she wasn’t home. Her daughter who lost the baby lived an hour away, and she was spending a lot of time with her. Although I couldn’t get in touch with her, I tried to make it a point to pray for her often. One of the things I prayed(besides for comfort)was that God would give her a new perspective and help her to see what happened through His eyes.

Last week, she came to church after being gone for a few weeks. During testimony time, she stood up and began to tell how God helped her to break through the darkness that had been surrounding her. The Lord brought the thought to her mind of how Mary must have felt to watch Jesus die on the cross. Although it was a difficult thing for her to endure, it was meant to be. This simple thought has brought her to the place where she is not crying constantly anymore.

Monday night, we had our monthly ladies’ prayer meeting at church. This is where we get together and pray specifically for our children, grandchildren and any other kids we know that need healing, salvation, etc. This lady and her sister came to the prayer meeting.  As we were getting ready to pray, this lady began talking about her granddaughter, how much she missed her and how it was still hard for her. Then the leader of our prayer group began to share something with this lady that she had been through. She had lost a child herself, something that I did not know. She began to share some of the things she went through, walking away from God, drinking, almost losing her marriage, etc. As she was talking another one of our ladies who was a little late came in and sat down and started listening to the conversation. When things got quiet, she too began to share how she had a grandson who died when he was 8 months old and all that she went through. I was so proud of these two ladies that had “been there” and allowed God to use them to help this other lady.  By the time we were through talking, praying, crying, laughing(yes, we even laughed some!)and having a snack together, I know this woman went home with a lighter heart.

I said all that to say that sometimes we go through things that are difficult, and we may wonder if we’re going to make it through or why God has allowed the thing to happen. If we’ll hold onto God and not allow our hearts to be overcome with doubt or bitterness, I believe God will one day bring us to the place where we can help someone else, because “we’ve been there.”

Although the death of this little girl has been difficult, God has already brought to pass 3 miracles.  3 infants were in need of heart surgeries to save their lives. The mother of the little girl who passed away was approached about organ donation, and first said no, but after some time and consideration, changed her no to a yes. All 3 of these infants came through their surgeries and are doing fine. Who knows what special plans God might have for these children.

Romans 8:28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Update: October 11th – I just read a beautiful post written by blogger friend Karen that deals with this same subject. It’s amazing that we both posted about this on the same day. I encourage you to stop by and read Karen’s post. It’s well worth your time. Here is the link to it.

http://khopper.blogspot.com/2009/10/layer-by-layer.html

This past week has been super busy for me, (thus, the lack of blogging)but the instructional training for my new job is now completed.  I did have an opportunity this Tuesday to teach my home Bible study, which has been on hold for a few weeks. We talked mostly about the plan for the building of the tabernacle that God gave to Moses in the Old Testament. Studying the tabernacle is always fascinating to me. If you study it out, you can see that the tabernacle is really a type or foreshadowing of New Testament salvation. It seems like everytime I study the tabernacle, something new jumps out at me. When you look at the picture of the tabernacle, you can see that it is surrounded by tents. God gave the Israelites specific instructions on where they were to camp and set up their tents. Certain groups were assigned to the north, south, east and west of the tabernacle.  So every morning when those Israelites woke up and looked out of their tents, what would they see? They saw the tabernacle, the place where the presence of God dwelt!God was literally in the center of them, and I don’t believe that was an accident.

I believe it’s still God’s desire to be the center of our lives. The question is, will we let Him have that place? If we’re not careful we can let things or reponsibilities or even people take that number 1 position in our hearts that God wants to fill. I can usually tell when I’m “off center.”  It seems like the first thing to go is my joy.  I may start feeling stressed or a little depressed or snap easily at my loved ones, and most of the time when this happens, if I’m really honest with myself, I can see that I have let something slip. Perhaps I’ve gotten so busy that I’ve allowed myself to miss out on daily prayer a few times or I begin to neglect my Bible reading. Thank God He is merciful enough to let us know when we are “drifting”, and if we’ll heed His voice, we can repent and get our heart back to the place where it needs to be.

So, I guess I’m writing this to remind myself and anyone else that may need it to strive to keep the Lord at the center of our lives. I can’t afford to put God on the back burner, because it not only affects me, but it can affect others that the Lord may want to use me to reach.  Help me Lord, to keep you smack dab in the middle of my world!

In closing, I wanted to share another cool thing about the tabernacle. If you were up in an airplane or helicopter and you could look down at the formation of the tabernacle and the way the Israelites were encamped around it, it would look like a giant cross. God is so good with object lessons!

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.(Jesus)

This week I completed 3 days of training at my new job. The first day was basically an orientation and review of company policies. Day 2 and 3 were pretty intense.  We have received so much information to the point of being slightly overwhelming. I’ve found myself wondering, “Am I really going to be able to remember and implement all of this stuff?” I know, of course, that there will be things I will forget and need to review. One of our instructors assured us that in time, most of these things would become second nature to us, so I am not stressed. I am praying and trusting God that He will help me to do a good job.  Next week there will be 3 more days of training and also an opportunity for shadow training. Shadow training is when you go to a client’s house and watch an experiened skills trainer work with the child. I am looking foward to that. I’m also looking forward to when I’ll be working closer to home and not commuting daily to go to training. I think I’d wear out quickly if I had that commute everyday.

Anyhow, I am enjoying this new challenge in my life and praying that God will be glorified in all of it. More later. Eyelids are heavy.

This was the title of the message that was preached on Sunday, and it was powerful. Judas Iscariot was a man who was hand picked by Jesus to be one of His disciples. In the time that he spent under Jesus’ earthly ministry, he no doubt witnessed many wonderful things. He saw the blind eyes open, the lame walking, a multitude being fed with just five loaves and bread and 2 fish and even the raising of Lazarus from the dead. He heard words of wisdom come forth from the Master, as Jesus taught the multitudes. Yet, there came a time in Judas’ life when he walked away from the Lord………….forever. What happened to make Judas do this? How did he lose the wonder of beholding the miraculous? Did he come to the place where the ministry of Jesus just became “old hat” for him? What caused his spirit to become sour to the point where in John 12, he questions and criticizes Mary’s use of some expensive ointment to anoint the feet of Jesus? The Bible shows us that his motive was not right here.

Joh 12:3-8  

Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

Maybe there were some things about Jesus that Judas misunderstood and perceived as negative. If only he could have hung on a little longer. In John 13, we read about Judas leaving and going out to betray the Lord. In the next few chapters, we can read about Jesus sharing some things with His disciples that they had not heard before. He began to reveal some things about Himself of which He had not previously spoken. But Judas was absent. Perhaps this deeper teaching would have cleared things up for him, would have given him more insight as to who Jesus really was. Even more tragic too is that he missed the day of Pentecost when Jesus first poured out His Spirit upon the church. He could have had the spirit of Jesus living inside him 24/7.

Those who have been born again of the water and the spirit need to be careful that we do not lose the wonder of this glorious salvation experience. We need to be watchful that we don’t let misunderstanding or perceived negativities sour our spirits and cause us to turn away from following the Lord. There will be times in our lives where we may not understand what God is trying to do in us. He may allow circumstances that don’t seem fair, but we must keep trusting Him even when we are walking a difficult road. We can’t allow ourselves to lose the wonder of having a relationship with Almighty God! We will understand things in God’s time if we keep on holding on to Him and remain faithful.

I’m probably not doing the message that was preached justice, but I know that I want to keep holding onto Jesus. I’ve come to far to turn around, and the only way I can have a greater revelation of Jesus is to keep seeking after and following Him. I pray this would be your desire too.

I had my job interview yesterday and got hired! I feel like the Lord has provided this job, and I am excited about it for several reasons. I will be working with autistic children (age 3 and younger) and their families. This will be a new experience for me, and I am looking forward to the training I will be receiving starting on Wednesday. On my way to the interview, I started thinking of possible “interview scenarios”, questions I might be asked, etc. Then a thought came to me(I think I know who it was from)that I should start directing my attention towards God. I started listening to some worship music and felt the presence of God with me. By the time I got to the building where I was going to have my interview, I didn’t feel a bit nervous. The HR lady and the behavioral sciences director that interviewed me were both very nice, and at the end of the interviews the behavioral sciences director told me that she was going to recommend me for hire, and I would be getting an offer later that day. I never mentioned to anyone what I would like my pay to be, but I did have a figure in my mind, which only God and myself knew. When I got my offer, it was the exact figure that I had in my mind! I think the thing that I am most excited about though is the opportunity to meet new people. I did ask God for a job with open doors for me to be able to share my faith, and I really believe He will bring it to pass, so………………………….I’m planning on writing more victory reports in the future!!