"HEAR OUR PRAYER, O LORD"

Have you ever had a nightmare that seemed so real to you that you woke up in a cold sweat with heart pounding? You were trying to scream and nothing came out. Trying to run, yet getting nowhere. Looking for a way out only to be blinded? Wanting to cry and the tears couldn’t even be forced out?

This is, in part, a response to a dear Christian lady who was trying to give me some encouragement for such a time as this. A time that we need God’s almighty power to be able to minister in the proper way to the brokenness of a family that needs to feel the sweet touch of the Master’s hand and hear His voice in the deafening roar of reality!

His return will not be soon enough for me! I pray everyday for Him to come get us all out of this mess of world we live in. It's so hard in this particular situation to minister to a family that is hurting so deeply because there are no really good or sufficient answers to give them. We live in a fallen world and sin brings about senseless tragedies like this. Man brought sin into this world and like the Bible so clearly states: “the wages of sin is death.” However, let me clarify, I am in no way saying that this family was taken from here because of some particular sin they committed, so please don’t mistake my point here. I know full well God sees the WHOLE picture.....the beginning and the end!!!!! And none of this took "Him" by surprise. I know that He is capable of bringing something good out of the most horrible of situations. I cling to Romans 8:28 like a vine clings to a wall!!! I have to or I would not have made it this far in life!! When we walked into Joanna's moms house yesterday it was so extremely difficult because there were several pictures of Ashley and Tyler laying there on the coffee table. Just to see the anguish and pain on the face of a set of parents/grandparents who are suffering such tremendous pain would have been enough to bear, but that topped it off: a family who is so broken not knowing where to start. An entire family that is suffering loss greater than we can even begin to wrap our minds around.

Please don't stop the prayers for us. I know this will be hard for my husband as he built a very strong relationship with Tyler.....they were "buddies" and Ashley helped me so immensely in Jr. Church when she would come. They will forever hold a special place in our hearts!! Pray for God to give my husband clarity of speech in his message and that God will sing "through" me because certainly I will not be able to utter one note without His strength!!! Pray for the other Pastor who will also speak and his daughter who will sing as well. If only one life can be reached for Christ through all of this mess, it will somehow be worth the struggle in a strange sense of it all.

Joanna’s mother made a statement yesterday while we were there that made an impact on me and caused me to somehow piece it together in some odd way. She said: "They (meaning Brian, Joanna and the kids) did EVERYTHING together. There was NOTHING they did apart from one another." My husband had previously made the statement that God was merciful enough to not leave one without the other. And I couldn't help but think..........that's a display of God's Amazing Grace........they did everything here together and so God, in all His loving kindness, so carefully orchestrated their “Homegoing” together as well!!!!!!!!!! Now………..is that any consolation for that family? Not hardly. I would never say it to them because they cannot see past their pain, anguish and tears right now. No one expects them to and if anyone does they are foolish. But for those of us who can sit back and look in from the outside can maybe see a dim reflection, just a glimpse of that moment when they all entered the gates of Heaven together. In life they lived and loved and in death they are still living…….Living where they will never face death again!! Death has been swallowed up in Victory for them!!! One day, hopefully they will be able to sort it out and looking back see a partial explanation to this horrifying time they were called to go through. Until then we all need to flood Heaven with pleas of mercy for them!!

We sometimes ask the question: “Lord, why this road? Why this pain?” But we have to be confident in the fact that He has never failed us and will not. He can not!! He promised He would not!! I know with all my heart that He will come shining through this time even though I can’t see it now. I guess when I asked Him to mold me to be more like Him; I forgot to mention that I didn't want it to be this painful. But, we all know the old cliché......."no pain......no gain!!!" What we all need to realize is that "His pain" was for "our gain."

The family I have spoken of is living out the worst nightmare a family could ever have to imagine. However, with God’s grace and by His grace only, they will be able to wake up from it one day and see through the pain. They will never, ever be able to “get over” it, but with our prayers and God’s love they will be able to “go on” in spite of it. My prayer for them is God’s Amazing grace showers them like a flood and covers them in constant waves of mercy.

“In seasons of distress and grief, my soul has often found relief…….by Thy return sweet hour of prayer.” As great as the depths of their grief, greater is the depths of our Father’s love.


“You, which have shown me great and sore troubles,

will revive me again, and will bring me up again from

the depths of the earth. You will increase my greatness,

and comfort me on every side.

Psalm 71:20-21

"My heart is aching!!!!"

As we sat eating lunch with my dad and a couple of dear friends this afternoon the headlines flashed:............."the King of Pop rushed to the hospital with cardiac arrest!!!" I could hardly believe my eyes. I immediately sat up and paid attention to the TV as I watched the newscasters flock around the motorcade that carried Michael Jackson to an LA hospital. I watched intently to see what else I could gather from the news scrolling across the bottom of the television. As I went back to my conversation with the people at the table I got lost in what we were discussing not thinking to much more about it, other than the fact that they he would somehow survive and have a strong comeback to his upcoming tour. Unfortunately as we left my dads house Shelley(our middle daughter) sent me a text message that said: "OMG!!!!! Michael Jackson passed away!!!!" I was immediately saddened by that news!!! My heart sank!! I remember listening to him "all" my life from the time I was a little girl to the very present!!! He was one of my "idols," if you will. I never, never missed American Bandstand, Soul Train or any other show I knew he and his brothers, The Jackson Five, would be on. I think I had every album they ever made. Over the years I watched his rise to fame and all the pitfalls, his failures and his successes. I paid particular attention to any news that may have related to him, rebuking those who accused him of horrifying things!! No matter what he ever did to himself, I still believed in him whether he made wise decisions or poor choices. I always had the strong inclination to pray for him. In so many instances I felt even though he was surrounded by the trillions of fans, he was still very alone and afraid in a great big world many times. Some of his songs screamed so loudly that he was in need of someone who cared. There was always a strange connection that I felt to him, maybe the musical inclination in both of our lives, I don't know. I absolutely loved his music from the time I was young until this very day. Some Christians, I know, will disagree with me and tell me I'm wrong, but that's ok. Everyone has the right to their own opinion.

For some reason God said today was the day Michael would stand before his Maker face to face. Sadly enough there were so many lose ends that he left untied. Young children still unraised and although I'm sure they'll be well taken care of monetarily, they will not have the physical presence of their father. And whether or not they had any contact with him, they will still feel the impact of his death. And I am very sure all the tabloids will focus on his failures and his fame and all the other things that surround the lifestyle he lived, but I can assure you, not one of those tabloids will be concerned where he is now spending eternity. Some will say he did not go to Heaven, some will swear he did. I'm not to say. My only hope is that one day in his lifetime he made the decision to accept Christ as his Saviour. There were many situations in his life that would have given him opportunity to do so. It seems that put in the right position, you always look to God to be your help. Maybe, just maybe in one of those very lonely, isolated times that he had here, he cried out to God for help and found his salvation in the one Whom he stands before today.

And isn't it strange that millions and millions will mourn the death of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett for many years to come, yet those same millions have no recollection of the One who hung on a cross and gave us what neither of them would have ever been capable of!!

I, in no way, want to discount the fact that many will hurt over the loss of these two great legends in their own time. I myself, will mourn the death of Michael Jackson. My prayer will be that God will minister to those left behind that loved them and that He will send someone to them that will be able to share Christ with them. However, my point is that there is no one, no thing and no amount of money that can keep you living and breathing here on this earth when God says your time here is through. When that time comes, the choice is no longer up to us.

While the choice IS still yours:

"Seek the LORD while He may be found; call to Him while He is near. "
(Isaiah 55:6)

"QUIET PLEASE"

When you walk into a library you see the sign that says: “Quiet Please.” That’s because many times people go to the library to study or to write papers for some class they may be taking in school and they need peace and quiet in order to think clearly. While we are here at the Southern Baptist Convention this week, there have been many things that have pointed my attention in that very direction. However, it has nothing to do with writing a paper or being able to think clearly. A couple of messages I’ve heard from the speakers has caused me to give great thought to my speech. I know this will come as a shock to some, but I have been told on more than one occasion that my personality is a little bit too much for some. *Ugh* You know it’s always been easy for me to critique someone else and pick out their faults, but when a mirror gets help up to you, it makes one a little bit uneasy. We never like to face cold, hard facts!!! Here we go……….”Grannie” always said: “truth hurts!!” Now I’ve heard the statement to many times: “God gave you 2 ears and 1 mouth for a specific purpose.” I never wanted to admit that made any kind of sense, but as the years go by and I watch and listen, I am realizing more and more the importance of listening before speaking. I have always lived my life on the edge never giving too much thought to what I was going to say or how I was going to say it. The thought never really went through the brain before it hit the tongue and came spilling out of my lips. In recent years and especially of late, I am leaning more and more towards putting a bridle on my tongue and “spiritual” hearing aides in my ears. It has occurred to me that when we don’t think before we speak, we not only run the risk of hurting someone’s emotional feelings, but we can ruin the possibility of hurting their spiritual feelings. We can give a very wrong answer if we don’t think first and sometimes that can prove to be very detrimental! We, as women, are called to be more tender in nature. We are referred to as the “weaker” sex, but that does not mean emotionally. We were made to love and be loved. We were given tender hearts so we could nurture not only our children, but also those who might be in need. A comment was made that has stuck with me and has made me feel so much better about who I am. To me it was so profound…….to you it might be just a common sense thing, but here it is: “You don’t have to change your personality or who you are to become a “true woman” of God.” I have always thought that just because people didn’t like the extroverted personality I have that I needed to change who I am. I have rebelled against that for the greater part of my adult life. I always used the line: “God made me this way, deal with it.” It never really occurred to me that I am free to be who God made me…….not who or what I want to be!! As Christians we are called to be set apart, separate, from the world. We need to realize that we can make or break someone with our words. Not only is our every move scrutinized by the world, they listen very intently to what we say to make sure our words match our actions. If they can’t hear or see Christ in us, we have no hope of reaching them for Him. We become useless to the Kingdom and our work is in vain. We are told to be the salt of the earth. Salt flavors and is “tasteful.” That’s what we need to in order to represent our Lord well. So the next time I feel like being “loud,” I’m going to do my best to “be quiet” and let people see who Christ is in me rather than try to let them hear who I am!!!

“ instead, it should consist of the hidden person of the heart
with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit,
which is very valuable in God's eyes.”
1 Peter 3:4

QUESTION

For months now I've not written on my blog.......well for that matter for months now I haven't done anything the way I used to. I've at least began posting my "Tuesday Tidbit" on here hoping that it might reach more than just the ladies of our church and the others who I send it to via email. I'm not sure what the problem has been really......plate to full will be the best excuse I can come up with!! I think I just need to slow down, which I'll be doing today. Dr. is taking me off of one medicine and putting me on a different one for all this nerve pain and the new one kept me awake ALL night long last night, so I'm sure I'll not be moving quite as quick as normal to day!!!

Anyways............I posed a question on my Facebook yesterday and got a few replies. Let's see how many replies I get here on my blog. At least it might give me a ballpark idea of how many people actually read it!!! See if you can fine the correct answer. Here's the question:

"It's time! Don't you think?"

"WHO DID IT?"

“What happened here,” the mother says. The reply comes; “she did it!” And another one comes; “no, she did it!!” Ah yes, the age-old mystery!! Being the mother of more than one child I have heard that phrase at least a million times if I’ve heard it once!! That’s the most frustrating answer in all of time if you ask me. If you’re not standing right there when the offense occurs how do you know truly “who did it?” (Some of you are shaking your head right now because you know exactly what I’m talking about!!) It’s obvious one of the two is not telling the truth. One of them did it, but neither of them wants to take the blame. And then as the conversation continues you hear; “well, she made me do it!” We, as human beings, have the uncanny ability to shift the blame everywhere but where it belongs: on ourselves! We don’t want to take responsibility for our actions. We don’t like to admit that we’ve done wrong, so we come up with every excuse we can find for the wrong we’ve done or are doing. Admitting wrongdoing might call us to a higher level of accountability and make us live above reproach. What it boils down to is we simply just won’t own up to our “sins!” When you find yourself not wanting to take responsibility for something, it’s usually a “sin” problem. No one wants anyone else to know that they have sinned, but we do. It’s a fact of life!! The Bible says so in Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Unfortunately, those who do not want to take the blame for their sin say they have none, which the Bible also plainly disputes……..”if we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves” (1 John 1:8) and make God a liar and His Word is not in us!!! (1John 1:10) It’s far easier to shift the blame to something or someone else. We push it to the back of our minds or put it on the back burner so to speak. As Christians we need to be aware of the fact that one day those things will be clearly exposed. It would be better for us to deal with it now, own up to it, repent from it and live with a clear conscience so we can serve God wholeheartedly. Our kingdom work will be hindered if we don’t!! I personally don’t ever want anything to stand in the way of me serving my Lord and believe me; I have done some pretty awful things! I’ve tried to own up to as many as I know to be my fault, but I’ve also played the blame game many times. However, God always without fail, calls me on it and I have no choice but to make it right. It’s not always easy and sometimes it’s quite painful and calls us to do things in a different way than we want to, but if we expect God’s blessings to continue in our lives, it’s a must. If there’s something you’re dealing with and trying to push it off on someone else, it’s time to do something about it on your own before God does it for you! It’s much easier to own up to it on your own than to have your faults exposed by a Holy God! Take your faults to the one who can fix them!!! The “blame game” has existed from the beginning of time! Remember in the Garden when Adam “blamed” it on Eve!!??” God knew then who did it and He knows now. It’s an ancient sin with the same fix. Where would we be if Christ had played the blame game? Fortunately for our sake He didn’t do that. He took the blame for something that truly was not His fault and He bore our shame on Calvary’s cross. There’s nothing to hard for Him so take it to the foot of the cross, leave it there and start fresh and anew!

“Can one say about anything, "Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us.”
Ecclesiastes 1:10

"HURRY UP AND WAIT"

Well, you guessed it. That’s what “Grannie” always said!!! “Hurry up and wait.” Or…….”the hurrieder I go the more behind I get!!!” For what?! For nothing. For more headaches, more heartaches! Does it really pay to be in a hurry? The more hurried we get, the more opportunities we pass up. As moms we pass up a golden moment many times because we’re in too much of a hurry to stop and pay attention to that child. Something that can only be captured in that “hurried moment!!” As wives we miss that one kiss or hug that we might not ever have opportunity to get again. As Christian women we may miss an opportunity to witness to that clerk at the grocery store who may just need to be given a smile because her day is not what she had hoped for. Maybe even her life is in a shambles and we were put in her path that day to encourage her but because we were in such a “hurry” we didn’t take time to notice the opportunity God gave us……..until it’s to late and the moment is past. Unfortunately all to many times that happens. Our lives are so filled with “things to do” that we get in such a hurry because there’s never enough time in a day to do everything that’s on our list. And if any of you are like me, it just kills you if that list is not complete at the end of the day!!! Issues………I think that’s what they tell me it’s called!!! J So many times lately I have found myself “coming and going” if you will.........burning the candle at both ends!!! There are so many things to do, so many people to see and so many places to go, it seems like I get absolutely nothing accomplished. As “Grannie” would say: “to many irons in the fire,” which in turn causes you to get in that hurried state!! The things that are most important get pushed by the wayside and the people who matter the most become less important and you never make it to the place that you truly needed to be!!! As Christians, we have become so hurried that we have hurried our devotional time. We want our church services to be scheduled to accommodate our needs. We want the Preacher to “hurry” the message along because we have things to do!!! We even “speed read” the Bible because we’re in such a hurry. It seems to me that in every account of Christ’s life on this earth, He was always busy, but I don’t recall Him ever being in a hurry!!! Hence, the death of Lazarus. When He received the news of Lazarus’ death, He did not immediately drop what He was doing and rush to his side. Let’s see, if my memory serves me right…….He was “four days late!!!!!” He always took time to pay attention to the needs of others, to talk to a child, to heal the sick or to raise the dead!!!

I think it’s high time that we get “unhurried” and take the time to call that someone special, send a card, make a visit to the hospital. Time to maybe make dinner ahead of time so you can sit and talk with your loved ones or play game with your children or grandchildren. Make a conscience decision to slow down. It’s simply time to show love to the unloved and give hope to the hopeless.

Here’s one more: “stop and smell the roses along the way!!!!” What a sweet aroma there is if we just take that time!!

“ So when He heard that he(Lazarus) was sick,
He stayed two more days in the place where He was.”
John 11:6