New Life Singers - THE VICTORY IS IN THE SHOUT

New Life Singers - MOUNTAIN MOVER

I love this song! My son, Richard, is playing the drums. What a good time of worship and fellowship at the Assembly of God church in Lonoke.

Running the Gauntlet

Papaw and I are creatures of habit so our day-to-day lives are fairly predictable. We tend to like things organized, scheduled and planned...well, I do anyway. Some might say our lives are mundane but I say at our age we are at a certain "comfort level."

Needless to say that routine includes places we go... mainly work, church, the grocery store, and sometimes out to eat at one of our usual restaurants. It is easy for me to get lost in thought or prayer when driving as each destination is one I have been to almost a million times.

I love turning the radio up loud and singing off key or praying at the top of my lungs and today was no different. That is until a beat up truck pulled out in front of me towing a ragged, half rotted Pinto. The tires on that car must have been as old as I am! Stuff was flying off that thing like nobody's business. I dodged large and small pieces of rubber, tire wire and wood for ten miles. Each piece just laying there waiting to sink into my tire and ruin my already packed day.

My journey this morning is much like life's journey. The road is scattered with the debris of bad decisions (or good decisions gone awry)temptations, disease, hurt, anger and a myriad of other distractions and dangers. As Christians, we are able to swerve, dodge, and steer clear of the obstacles through our one-on-one relationship with the Lord. We move as the Holy Spirit directs our steps and are able to avoid serious damage.

Though sometimes a little piece of that wire goes unnoticed and we have to pull over and change a tire we are merely experiencing a minor set-back. Again, much the same is life...a disruption, consequences of our own actions, or blind sided by some tragedy... we as Christians can pull to the side for a time and be still and know He is God.

I take comfort in knowing that along my journey I can look back and see the times when the Lord has taken the wheel and delivered me to HIS destination. The thing is... I had to let go. I had to stop. I had to give up on my own plans, desires, and aspirations and let Him steer me in the direction of His work, and many times... most times... it was not on my schedule or in the realm of my routine.

It is, I have to admit,during these side trips in life that I have had the most excitement, been witness to God's wonderful, amazing power and seen the Lord do marvelous things. And while today I was able to successfully guide my car through the obstacle course left in the wake of that Pinto I am personally pulled over and waiting expectantly once again as the Lord navigates me through the trash on the road of life and into His glory.

"May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings (Selah) May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests. Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." Psalm 20:1-7~NIV

Blessed are those who mourn...

Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4

We tend to associate the word mourn/mourning with the loss of a loved one. The very definition is to show grief or express sorrow for a death…to grieve over someone who has died. I ask you, “What if that someone is your own self?” What if the loss is not in death but in reality?

From time to time we all experience disillusionment or melancholy brought on by external factors (usually) beyond our control. But what happens when melancholy turns to despair and like a ball dropped from the top of the Empire State Building that despair gains velocity and smashes into the sidewalk of life… a splatter mark of hopelessness and anguish… splashing friends, co-workers, and loved ones alike with the backlash of depression?

What if the life coming unraveled is your spouse, your child, your parent, your friend?

It is so easy for people who have never experienced depression to sit upon the seat of judgment feigning Christian brotherhood/sisterhood and offer up tidbits of advice such as, “It is an attack of the devil and all you have to do is believe harder, confess whatever sin, and cast him out and you will be fine.” Ha! The advice of Job’s contemporaries runs rampant upon the lips of the saints today.

Maybe the belief is sincere and the advice given with the purest of motivation however would such a saint offer up this same advice to a fellow Christian (or non-Christian for that matter) who was losing a battle with cancer? I think not! If you would not give this advice to a cancer patient why would you offer it up to someone suffering with clinical depression?

Now a true saint, a mature in the Word saint, would drop to their knees in heart-felt prayer for healing, for comfort, for wisdom no matter the illness. They might even rally the saints for an old fashioned, anointing with oil, laying on of hands, casting out the demon, and actually pray down a healing. Then again, a healing might not come and the battle for sanity becomes a life-long endeavor.

After all the Lord himself told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in your weakness.” This after Paul had prayed three times for the Lord to remove the thorn in his flesh. In 2 Corinthians 12:7 Paul refers to his thorn as a “measure of Satan to torment me.”

For now, this day, we grasp the hem of His garment and hold fast to the faith that will move mountains, and walk in the assurance that our Redeemer lives and has power over the destroyer. That battle was won on the cross a long time ago! We take comfort that while our family may walk a steep and treacherous path through this thing called depression… whether for a season or a lifetime… He is still in control… He is still on the throne… My God is a MOUNTAIN MOVER!

Through the Fire

Driving Into the Rainbow

Today was the hottest day we've had so far. The humidity had to be in the 90 percentile range. The thermometer in the greenhouse maxed out at 120 around 10:30 this morning. We took turns rushing out and assisting customers, taking them drinks of water if necessary...then rushing back to the relative cool of the non-air-conditioned store.

We ratcheted up our end of the season sale by marking all plants half-price which always causes an influx of customers as well as increased sales per customer. Monday patrons tend to be a bit grumpy anyway...add to that the high heat and humidity...and it was all we could do to keep smiling. I can assure you there were more than one or two prayers whispered under our breaths as the day wore on. Momma said there'd be days like this!

I was half way home when the tiny raindrops began to hit the windshield of the car. The sun was still blazing down and on the horizon was the strangest rainbow I had ever seen. It did not arch high into the sky with a beginning and an end somewhere in the distance, but sat horizontal across the horizon.

Every time I see a rainbow I think of that song, God Put a Rainbow in the Clouds. God put a rainbow in the clouds...When it looked like the sun wouldn't shine anymore...God put a rainbow in the clouds. I was thankful for the rain and prayed it was raining at the house. This time of year it can rain hard all the way down the freeway and be dry as a bone at the house. I was thankful that the rain would bring on cooler temperatures and better temperament to our Tuesday customers. I was thankful of the promise that rainbow...no matter how odd...it represented.

That's when it happened...I turned onto the freeway off ramp...and drove right into the end of that rainbow! It was pretty amazing...the colors filling the car...all purple, pink, rose, and yellow and in a flash I was through and it was nowhere in sight.

I thought about how fortunate we are as believers to be able to take comfort in the promises of our never-leave-us-nor-forsake-us God. How like the rainbow...He is standing there with open arms not just at the end of the storm...but right in the middle! How His yoke is easy and His burden is light... and I was reminded that when we keep our eyes on Him we can not have our eyes on ourselves, our storms, our problems.

God is truly good and today...today...I am standing on His promises!

 
1. Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
 through eternal ages let his praises ring;
 glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
 standing on the promises of God.
Refrain:
 Standing, standing,
 standing on the promises of Christ my Savior;
 standing, standing,
 I'm standing on the promises of God.

2. Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
 when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
 by the living Word of God I shall prevail,
 standing on the promises of God.
 (Refrain)

3. Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
 bound to him eternally by love's strong cord,
 overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword,
 standing on the promises of God.
 (Refrain)

4. Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
 listening every moment to the Spirit's call,
 resting in my Savior as my all in all,
 standing on the promises of God.
 (Refrain) 

View from Down Range

I will not complain when I get too hot or too sweaty while working in the greenhouse surrounded by the the beauty of the the flowers, trees, and planters. Not while I work with so many who love me and whom I love.


I will not whine when my husband steals the covers, or snores too loud. I will not complain when I can not get comfortable...or when I cannot sleep because I had one too many cups of coffee.

I will not grumble when I have to wait in line at the grocery store, the gas pumps, or the take-out window at a fast food restaurant. I will not be impatient while waiting to be seated in a restaurant. I won't even whisper a comment if someone sits in "my" pew at church!

I WILL NOT FORGET THE SACRIFICE OF SO MANY FAMILIES
WHO ARE LAYING IT ALL ON THE LINE FOR
MY COMFORT...FOR MY CONVENIENCE...FOR MY FREEDOM...

HOOOOAH....Army Strong...Army Mom

Please pray for all our troops but especially for the 512 Military Police and their families. Thanks! May God bless you and yours and God bless America!

Unconditionally

I was thinking this morning about how truly blessed I am to be loved just as I am. Good, bad, indifferent… how my family and friends seem to look past my many faults and love me anyway. I know how difficult a chore that must be sometimes.

It is hard not to hold others to a higher standard than we expect others to hold us to, isn’t it? We expect so much from others and yet our own personality quirks, moods, or prejudices keep us from hitting the mark which is the bulls eye of unconditional love. We crave it, expect it, seek it out, willingly accept it, bask in it, and then we are unwilling to give it whole heartedly.

It is easy enough to love unconditionally when we are talking of our own children, less so when it is our spouses…or our children’s spouses… or our own in-laws. Not so easy when it is the co-worker that ruins our day just by saying hello. And it definitely comes slowly to the needy friend who monopolizes our time and energy with problems that either seem trivial or are created of their own accord and could easily be remedied by the simple act of forgiveness.

Unconditional forgiveness and unconditional love go hand-in-hand, do they not? I mean forgiveness is really something we do for ourselves. We can actually forgive someone else and they never even know it! Jesus, Himself was our example of this simple truth while on the cross he uttered a simple phrase. “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34

I did not, could not understand that concept before I became a Christian. How then do I explain it to my young friend who holds a hybridized theory of religion picking and choosing the things which make her feel comfortable…who says she believes in Jesus as the Savior but has never experienced the freedom true redemption brings? A young friend who is being devoured by jealousy, doubt, insecurity, and unforgiveness in her heart for another. Seeds of hate and resentment that are consuming her soul and leaving a wake of destruction so wide it is hurting those who love her and she doesn’t even realize it!

I do not, by any means, discount the fact that she has been hurt. She feels she has a right to be mad and is willing to hang on to that anger with every ounce of her being until she feels she has been rightfully vindicated, whatever that is. Oh how I wish she could understand… that which she is clinging to is a love killer and the love it is killing is her own!

I know prayer for her and this situation is all I can do but it does not stop me from wanting to grab her and scream at the top of my lungs that it is all about the forgiveness factor. That true unconditional love has to pass through forgives for it to be viable. That we need to seek out the good and not the faults of others in our lives because it is there we find happiness. That she reach out and grab hold of that Jesus she knows so little about and hang on for dear life…for all eternity!

I cannot help but think of the interviews I watched of the 9/11 victims families…of their last conversations… of the mother, the wife, the husband… who would give almost anything to turn back time to just minutes before the plane smashed into a building where their loved one sat at a desk with a hurting heart because of something said, done, or left unsaid. People who would take back words spoken or actions done without thought in haste and anger. People who now only pray their loved one knew they were truly loved.

Life is too precious, too fleeting to live it in a state of unforgiveness…and yes, sometimes it requires a little swallowing of the pride, an attitude of losing the battle to win the war, a little self sacrifice…but the rewards are long-lived and so very satisfying.

1 Corinthians 13:4-13 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophesies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect will disappear. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” ~NIV

Father God, today let me see past myself, my wounds, my hurt and give me a heart of forgiveness. May the reflection I see in the mirror today be the promise of you…the spirit of you…for I know that it is when I see past myself to others that I can be a servant to you.

Smells Like Rain

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from surgery. Her husband, David , held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news. That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Cesarean to deliver couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing.

At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs.

'I don't think she's going to make it,' he said, as kindly as he could.
'There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one'

Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Dana would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.

'No! No!' was all Diana could say.

She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away.

But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl.

There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger. But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there.
At last, when Dana turned two months old. her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time.

And two months later, though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Dana went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.

Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing.

As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby, when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, 'Do you smell that?'

Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, 'Yes, it smells like rain.'

Dana closed her eyes and again asked, 'Do you smell that?'

Once again, her mother replied, 'Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It smells like rain.'

Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced,'No, it smells like HIM! It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest.'

Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the other children. Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along.

During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.

I've read this story several times and every time I do...I think of those wonderful Walker twins. Born so early...in the hospital so long... and now two rowdy all-American, country boys. God is so great, He is so real, and when we are His...we are all firmly in HIS grip ~ God bless you all!

Cowboy Poetry

I received this from my niece via e-mail and wanted to share it with y'all.

Jake, the rancher, went one day
To fix a distant fence.
The wind was cold and gusty
And the clouds rolled gray and dense.

As he pounded the last staples in
And gathered tools to go,
The temperature had fallen,
The wind and snow began to blow.

When he finally reached his pickup,
He felt a heavy heart.
From the sound of that ignition
He knew it wouldn't start.

So Jake did what most of us
Would do if we had been there.
He humbly bowed his balding head
And sent aloft a prayer.

As he turned the key for the last time,
He softly cursed his luck
They found him three days later,
Frozen stiff in that old truck.

Now Jake had been around in life
And done his share of roaming.
But when he saw Heaven, he was shocked --
It looked just like Wyoming !

Of all the saints in Heaven,
His favorite was St. Peter.

So they sat and talked a minute or two,
Or maybe it was three.
Nobody was keeping' score --
In Heaven, time is free.

'I've always heard,' Jake said to Pete,
'that God will answer prayer,
But one time I asked for help,
Well, he just plain wasn't there.'

'Does God answer prayers of some,
And ignore the prayers of others?
That don't seem exactly square --
I know all men are brothers.'

'Or does he randomly reply,
Without good rhyme or reason?
Maybe, it's the time of day,
The weather or the season.'

'Now I ain't trying to act smart,
It's just the way I feel.
And I was wondering', could you tell me --
What the heck's the deal?!'

Peter listened very patiently
And when Jake was done,
There were smiles of recognition,
And he said, 'So, you're the one!!'

That day your truck, it wouldn't start,
And you sent your prayer a flying,
You gave us all a real bad time,
With hundreds of us trying.'

'A thousand angels rushed,
To check the status of your file,
But you know, Jake, we hadn't heard
From you in quite a long while.'

'And though all prayers are answered,
And God ain't got no quota,
He didn't recognize your voice,
And started a truck in Minnesota'

BETTER KEEP IN TOUCH!

A Time for Everything

Manicured lawn, one small square building, and three large crosses on a hill... I've passed it by thousands of times. When I was young it was the crosses that caught my attention. Later it was the green awnings that popped up in random locations. And then, the freshly dug dirt piled high, and the people placing chairs in four neat little rows under those awnings.

For two years we passed it every day on our way to the farm where my parents were building a house. My mother patiently answered any and all of my questions. To a second grader death does not seem as much of a reality as life.

I pass that same cemetery each day as I drive to the market and not much has changed, the same three crosses stand on the hill, the lawn is still beautifully manicured, the awnings still pop up on random days in random locations.

Just left of the entrance by a little grove of trees is an area with hundreds of little bunches of flowers placed neatly in little rows. It always seemed a bit odd to me until the one day I drove into the drive way and sat in one of those green covered folding chairs under one of those seemingly random placed awnings in that little corner by the road.

The young couple so dear to my heart sat catatonic in the front row with parents at their side. My dear friend could barely get through Amazing Grace. The pastor cried as he spoke of a loving God and the pure innocence of children who pass before the world has had a chance to corrupt their soul...and baby Emma Marie was laid to rest... she died just short of her due date and would be two years old this month.

Yes, death was hard for my young heart to understand when I first passed by those three big crosses, but now...death holds a whole new meaning...it is final... heaven or hell is the destination not that little plot of land where flowers or headstones reside.

In just a few short hours I will once again pass by that same cemetery, that same little corner by the grove of trees peppered with flowers. I will again pray for the families the green awning represents, if necessary, I will stop for the procession.

But today...today... I will remember the anguish contained in the sob of a mother who lost her only daughter. I will remember the sorrow in those beautiful eyes as the glimmer of hope for more that one child was laid to rest. I will pray even more vigilant for that young mother I have grown to love more each and every day.

Today, I will remember Emma Marie, daughter of Mikey and Amanda, little sister of Riley, grand daughter of Jeanna Marie, niece of Dede, great grand daughter of Delola and great niece of mine.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."

Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." ~NIV