My Turn

   It’s so great to be back here blogging.  Most of you know that I just spent almost three weeks in the hospital after emergency back surgery. Thanks to everyone for the prayers, cards, and phone calls.

   It never ceases to amaze me how AWESOME our GOD is and the incredible ways that He works.  It blows my mind sometimes how He takes what we think is a terrible situation and turns it into an incredible testimony of His goodness, grace, and power. 

   After the surgery, I was unable to feel anything from the waist down.  The dr. said that evrything should return to normal, but that he could not say for sure that it would.  I began to feel sorry for myself and began asking the question,”What if it doesn’t come back?”  God quickly spoke to me and said,”Even if it doesn’t, I’m still God.”  That put an end to the questions right then and there! 

   From that point on, my whole attitude changed.  I began praising God for bringing me through the surgery and for me now being pain free.  I would lie in my bed and just sing songs of praise and worship to Him.  I began to feel a peace that is hard to describe.  It just blew my mind Sunday when we were singing “When You Worship Me Alone” and Bro. Danny began to speak.  What he said was like a confirmation of what I had felt days earlier.  When I was lying in that hospital bed praising God all by myself, I felt closer to Him than ever.

   When I moved to the rehab unit I had so many chances to talk about how great my God is.  Every day people would comment on how great I seemed to be doing with my rehab.  I was quick to let them know that my strength came from the Lord.  This led to several wonderful conversations about my faith.

  There was one situation in particular that really touched me.  There was a lady there who was supposed to go home on Wednesday.  I saw her late Tuesday evening and found out that her dr. was not going to release her because she had developed a slight case of pneumonia, and had a couple of small blood clots.  She was very upset and I touched her arm and told her that I would pray for her. I did not see her again until Thursday.  She saw me from down the hallway and came to where I was at.  When she got to me, her eyes were full of tears. She told me that the dr. said that it was as if the pneumonia or clots never happened! She told me that she had not gone to church in about twelve years because of a falling out in her church. She told me that after the events of the last couple of days, that she would be in church on Sunday because God had gotten her attention.

   Only a God as awesome as the one we serve could take seemingly horrible situations and turn them into opportunities to showcase His greatness!

   I’m back with a lot of random thoughts. I haven’t blogged in a while because I just have not been on the computer much lately. My back is still acting up. I’ve been coming in from work,eating, and pretty much going to bed.

   First of all, what an awesome service yesterday. The music was rocking and it was quickly evident that the sweet spirit of the Lord was present. When I left the altar to return to my seat, I saw so many people in the congregation worshipping and praising God in their own way.

   While I was at the altar I prayed for a healing touch on my back. In the past couple of weeks several people have intimated that they are concerned about me being down. I have been down a little bit, but it is not the “Woe is me, here I am with another problem” that would have been the norm not too long ago. Now it’s more like “I don’t have time for this. There are too many things that I need to be doing, so many things that I want to be doing.” I miss not being able to help in certain areas at the church. With so much going on at church, I want to be used, to be a part of making it happen.  Lastly on this subject, I feel that the Lord has said, “In my time it will happen.” He has always taken care of me and I know that He will now. I am praying for a miracle healing, but if that’s not the plan, then I know that He will bring me a healing in another way and it will still be a chance to glorify Him.

   Those who know me best know that I read a lot. I read something the other day that really disturbed me. The statement was “Your present choices determine your permanent character.”  That is a lie that the world will tell you to make you think that if you mess up now, then a mess up is all you will ever be. The world can tell us what we have done, but it cannot tell us who we are.  The world labels us according to our past indiscretions and tries to attach that label with eternal super glue. The truth is, as Christians, while once we may have been a thief or a dope dealer or whatever, that is not our character now. We are now children of God, saved by His amazing grace, and our sins separated from us as far as the east is from the west.  Where did I read this statement? On a church sign!!! SAD!!

   Lastly, a couple of weeks ago Bro. Ryan spoke on not giving up.  The very next day I was reading a book and ran across the following story. I will paraphrase to try and shorten it a little.

   In 1952 a young woman named Florence Chadwick attempted to swim the chilly ocean between Catalina Island and the California shore. She swam through the fog and rough seas for fifteen hours. Her muscles began to cramp and her resolve weakened. She begged to be taken out of the water, but her mother,riding in a boat beside her,urged her not to give up. She kept trying but grew exhausted and stopped swimming. Aids lifted her out of the water and into the boat. They paddled a few more minutes, the mist and fog lifted, and she discovered that the shore was less than half a mile away. “All I could see was the fog,” she said later. “I think if I could have seen the shore,I would have made it.”

  Whatever you may be going through today, don’t give up. The finish line may be right in front of you. Press on towards the prize. At this very moment, God may be lifting His hand to signal Gabriel to grab the trumpet. Angels may be assembling,saints may be gathering,and demons trembling. To be a part of that victory celebration is worth staying in the fight!!!!

   Wow! What a difference a year makes. I have enjoyed this Christmas season immensely more than any I can remember in recent years. This despite two herniated discs that have have me hobbling like an 80 year old man for over a month.

   I’ve been thinking a lot this week about how much joy I have this Christmas and one thing keeps popping into my mind: Isn’t that the way it should be? As Christians, Christmas and Easter should be cause for unspeakable joy. Christmas is the time when we celebrate the fulfillment of God’s promise to send us a Savior.

   What an awesome God we serve that HE would send His son as an atonement for our sins. We did not have to ask Him to do it, nor did we have to do anything to earn it.  It was simply out of His amazing love for us that He sent His son.

   When we think about God keeping His promise and what it ultimately means to each of us as Christians, how can we not be joyful?!

   As a side note, I don’t know what your political preferences are, but Mike Huckabee had a great comment this week. He was asked about the atheists more or less trying to hijack our holiday at Christmas.  He replied that if atheists wanted their own holiday, he would suggest April 1st.(April Fool’s Day for all you blondes:)  )  Great One!!

   Merry Christmas to you all and God Bless you.

   Welcome to my new blog. I will mainly be blogging on different insights that have helped me through some difficult times. Please feel free to comment on anything you see here.

   Last Monday was a very difficult day for me. it was a day that I knew was coming and I thought that I was pretty well prepared for it. Things did not go exactly like I thought they would and it honestly knocked me for a loop. I spent a good part of the rest of the day fighting conflicting emotions. I was relieved that I finally had at least some sense of closure. I was mad at myself for being in that situation to start with. I was mad at the system that I felt had crucified me on this day. Then my feelings started to turn to despair. I had things going in the right direction and had started making some long range plans. I was getting ready to apply to go back to school. How in the world was I going to do that now? How was I going to do a lot of the things that I wanted to do? This was the story of my life, replaying itself again. Woe is me. But then…

   I made myself stop thinking those negative thoughts. I told myself that I was going to figure out a way to make this a positive in my life.  As I thought about all this stuff a question came into my mind. I kept hearing, “How many times?” Huh? Then it dawned on me! How many times does God have to prove Himself faithful and true before we trust Him no matter what? How many times before our first thought is “I can’t wait to see what God is going to do with this one.” instead of something negative?

   The Israelites were a perfect example of what I’m talking about. God had shown them 10 different wonders (plagues). Each time He told Moses that He was going to harden Pharoah’s heart against them and that he would not let them go. God would then bring another plague on the Egyptians so that the Israelites wold know and that they could tell their son’s sons that He was the Lord God.

   Ten different times God showed Himself before they left Egypt. Now they’ve left Egypt on the run and are trapped between Pharoah’s army and the sea. What did they say? They wondered wouldn’t they have been better off to stay in Egypt and live in slavery than to die in the wilderness? After all that God had shown them, this was their reply!

   God has shown me so many times what He is capable of.  I choose not to live in fear, but in anticipation of seeing how God is going to handle the next situation.