SelahV Today

RESOLUTION PRAYER

I resolve to pray according to Colossians 1:9-14 for my friends, family and especially my grandchildren this year.

May God fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.  May you  live a life worthy of the Lord that you may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work.

I pray that your life will make a contribution to the lives of those around you.  May you influence others by your words and actions in ways that bring glory to your Lord.  May honesty and integrity and faithfulness to God be your guidelines for interacting with others.  I pray that you show patience, kindness and self-control with those closest to you and to strangers you meet.  May you always extend mercy because mercy is what God extends to you each moment of each day.

I pray you grow in the knowledge of God, and are strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.  May you joyfully give thanks to the Father.  God has done so much for you.  He has qualified us to share in blessings and goodness forever and ever. He has set you apart for a specific plan and purpose.  May you hear his voice and trust him and follow his instructions that you may experience every blessing and remain in his will throughout your life.

May God bring people in your life that will strengthen your faith and increase your love for Christ.  May God watch over you and protect you from harm and temptation. God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  May you live each day with this ever present in your mind, heart, spirit and soul. 

May this prayer be my guide this year, in word and deed, in spirit, and thought.  Amen.  selahV

When Someone Needs Our Prayers

I was posting and reading statuses on Facebook tonight when I got a private message from a lady I'd known several years ago when I owned a newspaper in Owensboro, KY.  She reminded me of who she was and also shared that I had done a story on her niece when she was Kentucky's Teacher of the Year.  My mind reeled.  A decade-plus had flown by since then.

Beth Critchelow was a precious young teacher.  She loved her students so much.  She was full of enthusiasm and excitement.  Her desires were that no child would ever fall through the cracks without learning what they needed to know to move forward in the educational system.  She was one of those teachers you wanted your child to get every single year of they went to school.  Suffice it to say, Beth touched my life.

Now, her aunt was asking that I pray for Beth's husband Jerry.  He has lung and pancreas cancer.  He is a veteran who lives in Hawesville, KY.  They have the pancreas under control at the moment but he must begin chemo and treatment for his lungs.  Would you join me in praying for this young 49-year-old vet?

Beth's aunt Jane asked me to share this prayer request with every Christian I know.  So here I am.  Coming to all of you.  I have a soft spot in my heart for military men and women.  I know they've sacrificed so much for us to be free.  Today, all I am asking is that you'd give a little time...a few moments to lift Jerry in prayer that he might be free from the cancer that seeks to destroy him.  Thanks so much.

Father, in Heaven, we honor You and give You praise for all You are.  We know that we are but vapors in this world and our lives are in Your care.  We know You are the Great Physician.  We ask that You be with Jerry and Beth and their family in this time of dire need.  Give him strength for this battle.  Give his family comfort and peace.  Let the treatments be successful that You may be glorified.  Amen

WORDS OF WISDOM from DR. STEVE GAINES interviewed by SBC Today

Among so many words, it's hard to say what touches a chord more in my heart.  I picked these as my favorite from this interview with Dr. Steve Gaines:

"What good is a prayerless conservative, a prayerless preacher, or a prayerless professor? We must talk with God before we try to talk for God. We need daily prayer. Yesterday’s manna won’t feed us. Yesterday’s anointing won’t empower us. Yesterday’s prayers won’t help us make it through today." Dr. Steve Gaines, SBC Today

My spirit echos these words to add, what good indeed?

For that matter..."what good is a prayerless" blogger, prayerless writer, mother, father, Sunday School teacher, politician, or church committee member?

Sometimes I wonder how much thought goes into a person's email before they send it.  I wonder how much thought goes through a person's mind before they reply.  I wonder how much thought is given before one posts a comment, or into a post before one publishes it?  Do we test the weight of our words?  Do we examine our thoughts? our hearts?  Do we place them in the "light" of the Word?

"We must talk with God before we try to talk for God." Dr. Steve Gaines

Lord, teach us to pray.  Let us reach for You each morning before we do our coffee, before we grab our laptops and ipads.  Let us seek Your face before we link to facebook, a favorite blogsite, check an email box, or Twitter account.  Let us spend time before You and with You before we tip-toe, or charge, into the world beneath our feet...or, beyond our fingertips.   Let our thoughts be compatible with Yours, oh, Lord, our Savior and Redeemer.  Feed our thoughts with Yours.  Fuel our spirit with Yours.  Fill our minds with Your discernment.  And let as we go, let us speak the truth as best we know how.  selahV

When You Are On My Mind

I sometimes smile; other times I cry.

Sometimes I think; many times I pray.

I cannot sleep when trouble is at your door.  Like now.  And so I pray for God's grace to meet your every need.  For His angels to encamp about you.  There are so many needs for God to meet.

How does He do that?

Does it not amaze you?

Billions of people with needs, and billions of praying people.  I wonder who's praying for me right now.  I wonder what prayer God is answering for those I have carried to His throne of grace.  I wonder when I can't sleep...when you are on my mind, is God meeting your need this very moment?

What joy to think it so.

Lord, You know the faces, names, indeed the very number of hairs on the heads of those in my mind tonite.  You know who needs Your comfort, strength, wisdom and healing.  You know who needs encouragement, understanding and acceptance.  You know who needs mercy and hope.  I pray you meet the needs of those whose troubles weigh heavily upon my shoulders.  May they sense the presence of Your goodness, power, and sufficiency.  May their burdens be lifted, eased, sustained according to Your will.  As I think of those You love much more than I, embrace my thoughts and make them Yours to tend.  selahV

At Least He Prays

...at most?  He believes in the God Who can heal our land when we acknowledge Him and request His guidance.  In the end, we will all have to make up our own minds as to whether or not God will answer Gov. Rick Perry's requests for wisdom and healing as he led roughly 30,000 people in prayer in Texas this month.  We will all have to discern if his walk matches his talk--if his words are more than rhetoric based on principles or his principles form his words to honor our Creator.  Each will need to consider whether his words are to win and woo voters, or reveal his own integrity, and dependence upon a Holy God.

His critics can whine and fuss all they want, but I am of the opinion that whatever else Rick Perry does in this nation as a leader, he did the best thing any government leader can do.  He prayed.  He called on Americans to seek God's guidance with our broken government and economic chaos.  He sought Divine intervention to bring America back to a nation that thrives and achieves goals set before her to help ourselves and ultimately...other nations in the world.

Every time a person, be it a state legislator, or a President in the Oval Office emphasizes faith in their life, they are ridiculed and chastized.  What do these critics fear?  A God of mercy, grace and love?  A God of protection and provision?  In America, people are allowed to worship in freedom, without fear of persecution.  That includes our leaders. Unfortunately, in the last few years, cultural voices seem poised to eliminate as much public mention of God, Jesus and Christian faith as possible. 

Today I saw a report of a high school principal who organized a prayer meeting over the summer.  He simply invited a group of educators and parents to come together to pray for God's protection and wisdom to lead the children in the year to come.  It was not mandated. It had no students to persuade.  It was an invitation.  Is this a violation of church and state?  Seems to me, the state violates his right to free assembly, free speech and freedom of religion if they prohibit such.  But that's me.  Just because a minority of people decide we cannot have prayer in schools, can't teach students that the laws that rule our land come directly from the moral laws of the Ten Commandments, doesn't make it the correct interpretation of the law of separation of church and state.

Considering all the schools which have had children brandishing guns, knives and other weapons to wipe out entire classrooms, it seems it behooves us to pray.  We need to enlist every help available at our disposal.  Including and foremost the Sovereign.  No school is exempt, even schools of faith, as attested by the recent Memphis murder of a principal by a seventeen year-old student just three days after opening(/link) . 

It's odd when one thinks about how schools are limited and prohibited from mentioning God today. It's okay for federal and state employees to take time off for religious holidays, and okay for the citizens to pay their salaries, but it is not okay for employees (and in most cases, students), to proclaim for Whom the holiday is celebrated.

Critics of religion in general, and Christianity in specifics, deny the very principles upon which our country was founded.  They think the moral laws imposed upon its citizens came from the secularized minds of supposed atheists, agnostics, and diests.  However, for years the institution which turned out many of our presidents and legistlators, taught Biblical principles as a means for governing and thinking of justice and law.  I offer the example below an original rule from Harvard Law School in 1636:

 
Oh, to have rules like this honored in our colleges today--especially those which mold and manipulate the minds of future legislators and leaders of this country.  Americans are tired of teleprompted speeches filled with false hope.  Americans are fed up with polished politicians and legislators who have no principles, who are afraid to mention their faith, and who submit to the money-changers, and the ever-changing popularity of polls.  Folks are fed up with leaders who do not listen, but dictate.  They need someone willing to be humble enough to trust in God, and recognize, as the early founders of Harvard, "to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning."  Many might not know it.  But they need someone like that...whether it is candidate in the running now, or not.  Whether God raises up someone like that to help us remains to be seen.  At least I can pray.  selahV

When I Awake Too Early...

I sometimes do what I'm doing now.  I open my laptop and start writing.  Scary when the house is dark and that bright light slaps me in the head.  I need night vision glasses.  This is absolutely blinding.  I think I'll close my eyes and type.  Ah, much better.

Anyway, tonight when I awoke I wondered if the Lord wanted a word with me, as He so often does in the middle of the night.  So I waited.  And within a milisecond, He brought my facebook friend, fellow blogger, and sister-in-Christ to mind.  It's easy to know why she entered my thoughts.  Recently she miscarried her first child.  Emily use to write for Devotional Christian.  Please join me in lifting her up in prayer.  It's a hard thing to lose a baby.  Especially the first.  One wonders if you'll ever have a child.  I know.  My little Paul only breathed 23 hours of air (and that was very labored), before he went to heaven.  WeeOne only lived about 3 months in my womb before she moved on to be with God.  It makes getting pregnant again very scary...fear you'll lose another baby.  It makes being hopeful something elusive.  It's something you are hesitant to even usher out of your heart.

anyway...will you pray with me now for Emily?

May God in His tender mercy fill her with peace overflowing today.  May she feel the spark of joy kindle again in her heart.  May the Lord give her and her husband comfort this very hour.  May their trust be renewed...trust that He will never abandon them, and trust in His all-knowing plan for the life he started in her and took back home much sooner than Emily had wanted.  May the moments she finds herself questioning her loss, and wondering why.  Please, Lord; turn her wonder into marveling.  Let her know she will one day hold her Amos in her arms for an eternity.  Until then remind her of those who've gone before her who are most likely holding Amos now.  And Lord, please send my son over to hold Amos awhile.  He so loved little babies.

May we all remember to pray for Emily when we waken in the night and think of her.  May we each use our time wisely when wakened. I most assuredly believe when I cannot sleep, it has a lot less to do with me writing and a lot more to do with me listening.  God wants to talk to me.  This time He wanted me to pray for Emily.  And He wanted me to ask you to pray, too.  God bless you all, and especially Emily. selahV

TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA TORNADO FOOTAGE

In the aftermath of horrendous tornado that just hit Tuscaloosa, volunteers walk carefully through piles of rubble to carry out a child on a door.  Unbelieveable.  Pray for these people.  And all those in the last few days who've seen the destruction of nature.  Pray for Georgians as this system churns towards them.

When Things Look Hopeless

I can only pray.

He's my brother-in-law.  Married to my husband's sister.  His name is Mike. He's been through surgery, chemo, radiation, more surgery, more chemo.  It started with a small cancer on his tongue, a couple of years ago.  He's not doing well at all.  He's battled long and hard.  On Easter Sunday they took him to the hospital because his legs were swollen so badly.  His kidneys are obviously toxicly stressed out.  He's a young fifty-something.  Very young, full of life.  He needs your prayers; he's so tired of taking morphine for pain.  His wife needs your prayers. Valerie.

Things look hopeless this side of heaven.  So all we can do is pray.  May God give them grace to endure, comfort to ease, and peace that passes all understanding as they deal with each new day.  For this my heart cries out with words I cannot utter.  May the Holy Spirit give meaning and wisdom and send God's perfect will in this hour of hurting and heartache and fear.  Be enough, Oh LORD, be enough for them right now.  hariette 

MONDAY MOURNING MOANS

It's official.  Today is Monday and it is one of the least loved days on the weekly calendar.  For most folks it is the first day of a work week.  For others, it's just another day and is sometimes their "saturday".   Antique shops are notorious for taking Mondays off.  I don't really have any complaints about Monday to speak of.  I have a deadline for my newspaper column on Mondays, so that makes it a rather significant day to remember.  Other than that, I try to take it easy on Mondays and spend a lot of time writing for the week.  For me, it's easy to sense the presence of God and hear Him speak when I read His word on Mondays.  I attribute that to the time I spend focusing on Him in Sunday School, Worship and such.  So Mondays are kinda sweet for me...a day of reflection...a day of planning the week ahead.

Never fails when I go to Facebook, the moans and groans are almost audible.

My blogposts get the most readers on Mondays, too.  So I suppose there is a lot of folks leaning back in their recliners, sipping coffee, sweet tea or energy drinks.  I have it on pretty good authority, if there is any leftover cornbread from Sunday dinner, that a dear friend of mine might even be spooning the soggy stuff out of a glass of buttermilk while he reads Monday-morning bloggers rant, rave, moan, groan, grumble and complain about everything from theology to rain on their parades.

It's odd when you think about it.  We have been given only so many days appointed on earth to breathe, to love, to enjoy, to pursue happiness, yet so often we are found begrudging the existence of the hour at hand.  Wouldn't you think after a Sabbath day of rest, we'd appreciate another day of living with the blessings of God? 

I remember one of the sweetest prayers my elderly daddy ever prayed on a Monday morning.  It was at breakfast as his feet dangled over the edge of his nursing-home bed.  His hair was rumpled, his tee-shirt stained from midnight snacking, and he bowed his head.  In between oxygen-fueled breaths, he says, "Thank you, O Lord for another day of living.  Thank you for Your protection last night.  I especially thank you for this food before me, and pray You use it to nourish my body.  Watch over Shirley and my family and give Hariette a safe trip home.  In Your precious son's name, I pray.  Amen."

Then with his feeble, shaking, Parkinson's-afflicted hand, daddy would lift up the rubbermaid lid to find his usual runny tasteless, scrambled eggs, dried out cold toast, and bowl of grits.  No salt allowed.  No sugar.  No fat.  I'd look at that tray and watch my father's labored breathing, and wonder how in the world he could be so thankful for another day of living.  Yet, he was.  Today, he is fully whole and feasting on the bounty of the Lord.  What a neat thought the LORD just put in my head.  It's enough to make me want to count my blessings for awhile.  How about you?  selahV

How To Pray In Christ, Believing

There's a ton of stuff about prayer I do not know.

There's a bunch of stuff about prayer I've come to learn.

There's a bit more I've experienced through much sorrow, pain, struggle, surrender and acceptance.

In the final analysis, I find the most overlooked area of power in the Christian's life (including mine), is intercessory prayer.

A powerless faith is a faith which fails to lift up prayer for ourselves and others believing God is the One and only One Who can answer our prayers according to His perfect will.

Some things I've learned:

We can't help God out.

We can't change the answer.

We can't use emotion to sway God's will.

We can't always understand.

We can't always be happy.

We can trust the Father to answer without our intervention.

We can be persistent when He doesn't answer on our timetable.

We can rest without worry and have peace in the process of God's perfect timing.

We can believe God's promises and learn from our inability to understand as part of the growth process in the sanctification of our faith and growth as Believers.

We can have joy even when we are not happy with the situations we live with as we wait upon the LORD.

We can find completeness in the brokenness of our lives left in the hands of God.

There is a hunger within our hearts, souls, and minds when we pray believing and wanting God's complete will in a situation.  The Holy Spirit clears out all the baggage (sorta like html stuff that only techies can fix in a website to make it work correctly and show up on a page) Then the Holy Spirit puts it perfectly at the feet of our Father in Heaven.  Then He directs the course of events to bring about the answers to our prayers according to His perfect will.

For Daniel, God sent Gabriel who battled Satan in the realms between heaven and earth before finally answering His prayer for help.  For Jesus He gave all He needed to "drink the cup", He would rather have been left untouched.

Our problem, as humans, is we tend to think we know better how that perfect will ought to look when it comes about.  Sometimes it is not pretty...but as we learn to trust the Lord God Most High, He perfects in us the ability to accept His will as His will and relinquish our claim upon what the answer should look like.

I've had a ton of experience in this since my son was killed on Mother's Day 2005.  And I mean to tell you the Lord and I have gone to the mat several times.  Each time I find myself enjoying it when I'm pinned down and looking up into His glorious, merciful, loving, compassionate face through the magnification of tears in my eyes.  He is good.  He is very good.  He is Sovereign and His answers are perfect.  Praise His Holy Name.  Whew.  I feel like shoutin' !!!!  selahV >>>>>>>

Please, don't rush off.  Stand up and shout a bit with me. LOL. Take a moment and post a comment and say hello.  That way I can be praying for you, too.  God bless and keep you until we meet again. selahV 

POWERFUL Testimony by Wade Burleson

This is one of the most powerful testimonies of how God uses us in our darkest hours when we turn to Him.  Please read Wade Burleson's account of imprisonment in Mexico and be encouraged when you find yourself struggling with circumstances beyond your control.

CLICK >> HERE to Read Saved From Hell, by Wade Burleson.  God is so good!

Thank you, Wade, for posting this story.  You should submit it to Billy Graham's Decision Magazine.  Then they'll reprint it in Spanish.  selahV (a.k.a. hariette petersen)

I WANT MORE

Today, people are wishing everyone everywhere Happy New Year.  They're wishing them good health, prosperity, success, happiness for 2011.  We all want those things for those we love...for friends and strangers alike.  However, for whoever reads this today, I am praying for far more for you:

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God." Philippians 1:9-11

Please pray this for me, too.  Thanks.  selahV

CALL FOR PRAYER AND CHARITY BOOKSALE

[UPDATE: God is soooo good.  No longer need any donations.  Please keep praying for Allan's situation and if you want to purchase any of the books on my list, they are still for sale]

 I've told you about my brother, Allan.  His lung cancer is contained in the one lung.  He will decide this Thursday what treatment to do for it--surgery, radiation or chemo.  Please pray for him because any of these are going to be extremely difficult. He is 6'1 and weighs only 110 pounds.  He cannot stand to lose weight, so I don't know what they will decide.

His inability to breathe qualified him for 24-hour oxygen. He has 50-feet of tubing so he can get around the house when necessary. He spends his days, alone, in his bedroom. Occasionally he gets up to make a little meal and let his Labrador and German shepherd outside.  He lives in Connecticut, a two-day minimum trip by car for me (which I cannot take due to my back problems, even if I had the money to go, which I don't).

Herein lies the need and burden I have.

I want to get him a laptop computer so he and I can converse on-line and also, so he can Google and blog and play with it.  I am going to sell books to pay for it and the router and stuff needed to connect him to the world wide websites.  If you see a book you would like to purchase (from the list I will post soon in my left sidebar and keep updated), please let me know and I'll get it out to you. Just email me at selahvtoday@ aol.com. For the most part, these books are brand new.  I get some in exchange for devotional writing I do.

Of course, I shouldn't be proud...so I come to you with great humility asking if you'd care to make a small donation (I realize the economy is rough on everyone), I'd be so very grateful, and would pray down heavy-duty blessings upon you for your generosity.

If you have a book or two that you could sell on your own website for Allan and share some of the proceeds, that would be super, too.

For now, I am offering the following books for sale:

FOOL MOON rising, by Kristi and T. Lively Flaherty...a hard-back illustrated children's book about Pride, with scientific details in the back.  Retails for 14.99; I have SIX of these for 9.00 each and FREE shipping. BRAND NEW.

MANLEY BEASLEY, Man of Faith--Instrument of Revival, a biography of sorts by Ron Owens.  Retails for and I have one for 7.00 and 2.00 shipping. EX. COND.

the Jesus Storybook Bible, A hardback children's illustrated bible/book by Sally Lloyd-Jones; retails for 21.99;...I have one of these for 10.00 and 2.00 shipping. BRAND NEW.

HEAVEN IS FOR REAL, by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent, retails for 16.99 and I have one I read for a review which I offer for 6.00 and 2.00 shipping.  Excellent condition.

WHOSOEVER WILL by David Allen and Steve Lemke; retails for 24.99; I have one for 10.00 and 2.00 shipping.  BRAND NEW.

PLEASING GOD, by RC Sproul, (paperback) retails for 9.99, Have one for 4.00 and 2.00 shipping  GOOD COND.

THE SOUL'S QUEST FOR GOD, by RC Sproul; hardback, retails for ??? selling for 5.00 plus 2.00 shipping.  NEW

LORD, IS IT WARFARE? TEACH ME TO STAND, by Kay Arthur; paperback; retails for 13.99; selling for 5.00 plus 2.00 shipping.  NEW. 

A HANDBOOK FOR MINISTERS' WIVES, by Dorothy Kelley Patterson; hardback; retails for 16.99; selling for 5.00 plus 2.00 shipping.  NEW.

OSWALD CHAMBERS Abandoned to God; by David McCasland; hardback; The Life Story of the Author of MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST; retails for ??? selling for 6.00 plus 2.00 shipping.  NEW.

MORE TO COME...selahV

          

CANCER and My Brother

So, Allan called me today.  "It's cancer," he said.

That would be bad enough in itself, but his emphysema and COPD leaves him with lungs operating at about 28%. He can barely walk to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, or bowl of soup without having a coughing episode.  Walking to the mailbox to get his morning paper is a long arduous journey.  I don't know what the immediate future holds for my brother as far as treatment, options, and prognosis.  Even the most treatable of cancers will involve risks for him to consider.  I ask one thing of you, my faithful readers:

Please pray for those around him to show compassion and concern and mercy.  That's all I ask--that his last days and months are filled with some people who care about how he feels.  Thanks so much.  selahV

SOMETIMES LIFE WEARS YOU OUT

This gives new meaning to the phrase: "sleeping like a baby," don't you think?

Sometimes I wish I were this able--when 2 a.m. gives birth to ideas, inspiration...or worry.  It would be so nice to simply bend over my laptop and drop.  Drop the quandries, the fresh new phrase--the heartaches and burdens and just turn off the lights of my mind.

Oh, Lord, let me rest in Thee and release the difficulties, the challenges, the anxiety, the grief...and even the tantalizing excitement this life offers.  Release me from those things which seek to rob me of bodily rest, of spiritual calm, of mental clarity.  For those kindred spirits who share my plight, I pray for deeper sleep, for greater restoration of joy and hope in daily moments of fatigue.  Thank You for the grace to meet this new day with new mercies for what is ahead.  selahV

FOR WHAT ARE YOU PRAYING?

Praying is one of those deeply unuttered groanings going on within me–it seems like all the time–anymore.  The older I get, the more needs I recognize--the more potential problems I foresee.

With every sad news account of abuse–to children, to women, to men–my heart cries out for justice and comfort.

With all the political lies and usurping of power, I moan and beg for God’s intervention and protection.

For all the daily sadness I see, I pray for God’s abundant grace to be sufficient to meet the needs of hearts I cannot touch–with hand or word.

For the apathy within my own heart in areas most important to my Lord, I confess and pray for the restoration of my early faith in Christ.

It seems to me each day brings me new opportunities to pray for others–for ministers who break the bread of life to their congregations, for the lostness of souls, for the reconciliation of marriages, and other relationships.

Yet, all too often, at the end of any given day, I sense how little I have prayed for what God sees most important.  I recognize that much of what I've brought before the throne of grace is mundane, mediocrity--for that which the heathen might pray.  I realize how much is about my comfort, my needs, my desires--the daily comforts of others.  So little for the increase of the Kingdom of God.  Because of my fleshly self-interest, I weary myself and am grateful the Spirit joins mine and cries out for what is best and most beneficial for the purpose of God to be completed in and around me.  selahV

Thanks to my friend Bill for stimulating my thoughts on this subject today.

PRAYING FOR A MIRACLE

Some of you know I volunteered to help teach an Iraqi lady conversational English.  Linda came here with her husband and their 4 year-old little boy.   Her husband was an interpreter with our soldiers while they served in Iraq, and is here on a 10-year green-card.  He hopes to become an American citizen.  Unfortunately, because of some very tangled circumstances, Linda was unable to bring her two little girls with her.  Her girls are 6 and 7 years-old.  Linda misses them so much.  It tears my heart out for her.

Each week she and I work on learning how to talk English, and Linda is doing really, really well.  She can read very well and pronounces words clearly.  She's so excited to be learning our language and she goes to our Friendship Internationals ministry on Tuesday at a local church to further her ability to speak our language.  Today after Linda and I had read some of her lesson book, I asked her if she had any pictures of her family in Iraq.  She did and she showed me photos of her two little girls.  As we both wept for the pain she feels because of the separation from her girls, I told her I would pray for God to open the doors and bring them to her in America, soon.

Linda really loves it when I bring my granddaughters to visit with Abodda.  He gets to play with them, and she loves to watch them play.  Below is a photo of them playing with playdoh that I brought to Abodda. [continued after photo]

 

Please pray for this miracle with me.  It will literally take a miracle for this to happen.  I cannot imagine what she must feel being in a strange country and not being able to see her little girls.  Her mother and father are their care-takers in Iraq and by their laws, they are the guardians--almost as if Linda was not the mother.  It will take a miracle to change that situation, too.  Please pray God moves in a way to release the girls from this guardianship so that they can come here.

I sense the Lord doing something extraordinary in Linda's life.  My heart goes out to her in this time of separation.  Pray for me as I try and minister to her...I know God has placed her in my life for far more than lessons in English.  selahV    

WHEN PAIN IS UNBEARABLE

...WE NEED PRAYER.

When pain medications and methods of pain control are exhausted, we need the prayers of the people.

We all have a measure of pain in our lives.  Some folks have extra helpings.  Such is the case of a sister-in-the Lord who is crying out to God in the midst of her pain.  Dawn needs our prayers.  Please take a minute and go read (here) her deeply moving post on the tortuous pain she is going through, and the upcoming surgeries which she faces with the hope of correcting it.  But more importantly, you'll see how she longs to glorify God through the pain.

I also have daily chronic pain that keeps me from doing a multitude of things--which brings on such excruciating pain I cannot stand a second longer.  I do my best not to take pain medications, even though I need them for relief.  I've learned to do a lot less than I'd like to do--and discovered new ways of doing what I must do.  Often I must sit down as others stand to praise the Lord in church.  Sadly, my husband does a lot of the things around the house that I can no longer do.  Though the pain sometimes seems to control my moods, my attitude, my life--I know God is in charge of everything.  He is my solace.  He is my strength.  He is my comfort.  I know I can commit my way unto the Lord; I can trust Him. I know He will make my righteousness shine like the dawn of a new day, and justice of my cause (whatever it is) like the noonday sun. See Psalm 37:5,6

Please remember to pray for Dawn as she undergoes back surgery tomorrow (Tuesday). selahV

ANALYZING MY PRAYER LIFE

I always wonder about my prayer life when I have a week like I had this past week.

Let me tell you a few of the oddities that occurred this week.  Then I'll tell you what I had prayed at the beginning of last week.

First day out of the gate my husband got a ticket.  Seems the motorcycle police officer wasn't happy with how long my husband sat at a stop sign.  We both chuckled over the rare fact that my husband got a ticket.  The second day my husband went to inspect a vacant house and make a property report and got stung several times by huge wasps. (So glad he isn't allergic to bee stings.)  His ear was two times the size of normal.

Well, one of hubby's part-time jobs, is custodian of a Christian elementary school, for those of you who do not know.  So after being stung, he went to work that day, and the principal tells him they'd had the plumber come and clear out the lines of a small bathroom in one of the rooms so they could use it as a new school room.  All was good, except when the plumber blew out the line and cleared the years-old plugged toilet, all the junk blew out into the kitchen sink of the room next to it.  The sewage was all over the cabinets, the kitchen sink, the countertops and floor.  And guess who got to clean up all that mess?  Yeah.  I'm glad I am married to a saint.  Otherwise he might have been in a really grumpy mood when I told him what had happened to me that day.

I went to the Water-park with my granddaughters and after making several rounds around the lazy river with my inner tube, I discovered I'd taken my cell-phone swimming with me.  The cell-phone did not enjoy the swim--even though I'd given it a break from the 107-degree temperatures.  It didn't work to take it apart and blow-dry the phone.  It's dead.  I drowned it.

So I go to AT&T to get a new one.  They don't sell mine anymore.  I hate the new ones.  (Then again, I don't much like change of any kind.)  So, I didn't get a new phone.  But my daughter had an old one that didn't have a back on it that I could use till I made up my mind what I wanted, (or, if I wanted anything at all).  I'm contented to just have a phone I didn't have to pay an arm and a leg for.  So I took my sim-card out of my old phone so I could have my address book with my own numbers.  Well, who knew that a person must save the numbers to the sim-card as well as the phone or you don't have any numbers?  So, I've lost dozens of telephone numbers I had stored in my phone.  Who writes them down on paper, anymore?  Annoying?  Not nearly as annoying as going swimming the next day and drowning my daughter's phone, too.  Yep.  I'm serious.  I had tucked it into my bathing suit pocket and forgotten it--Again.  So I took it for a dip in the lazy-river, too.  Cannot believe I am that dumb and forgetful.  But....well, I am.

It reminds me of how forgetful I can be with my commitments to the Lord, too.  I seek His help to become less aggravated with circumstances, then I get aggravated.

I won't bother telling you the rest of the stuff that went on this week.  Totally mind-boggling.  But I will share what I prayed at the beginning of the week:  I asked the Lord to make me more sensitive to Him, to what He wanted for my life as His child.  I committed myself to a deeper walk with Him.  I didn't want to get all caught up in the mundane, little aggravations of life and miss out on the most valuable opportunities He had for me to be a witness of His love, patience and steadfastness.  I committed myself to a better attitude in the midst of trials.  I told Him I wanted to experience the contentment found only in Him.  I committed myself to complaining less and praising more.

Well, here I am. I recognize that my life is full of junk--just like that toilet that was plugged.  Sometimes God has to clean out all the junk in our lives to get us to recognize He is in control--and the habits we've formed must be changed to be the light He wants us to be.  To have patience, I must learn to be patience and less frustrated in the annoyances of life.  To be content, I need to relax and allow God to work out His will as I let go of my own.  To be calm in the midst of chaos happens only as I let go of my expectations, my pre-conceived ideas of what I deserve in life.  Life is not about me.  It's about a God so holy, so gracious, so magnificent than everything pales in comparison to walking with Him.  My faith in Christ calls for a kinder, gentler nature in the pathways of disruptive situations.  Living contentedly requires a total surrender of my comfort to His sovereign control.  Stuff in life is just stuff.  How I react to all that stuff is what God is concerned about.  Looking back, I see how little that much of the annoyances affected my attitude toward others.  I didn't get upset.  I didnt' allow it to carry over into conversations with others.  God was at work in me.  Then...

I got a quick lesson in this when my laptop that came back from servicing quit working.  Yeah.  It worked for two days, then stopped connecting to the internet.  So I am back to limited use of the computer.  At first I was so ticked off I couldn't even reply to emails from people I care about.  Then I calmed down and realized--this is the lesson--the real lesson God wanted me to learn this week.

The communication I need to think about is what God wants me to have with Him.  When I communicate with Him, He opens the lines of communicating with others.  Laptops, cell-phones, computers--they are a means, but my attitude is what God cares about--otherwise, any message I convey is worthless.  He wants my attention.  "He will keep me in perfect peace when my mind is stayed on Him."   Prayer is a dangerous thing sometimes.

PRAYING FOR AUSTRALIA

A blogging friend of mine says he could use our prayers. In August, he takes on a new role in Sydney, Australia.

He will:

•Equip and support new and existing Special Religious Education Boards; promote and support local church involvement in state High School ministry in the State High schools during school time. We can present the gospel in our High schools if we have enough teachers to do it.
•Plan and implement strategies to increase the reach and impact of state High School ministries
•Negotiate with state High Schools to develop SRE (Special Religious education) programs Network with state High School SRE teachers ands chaplains
•Support and train Youthworks’ College students to work as part time chaplains (paid for by the Australian Federal Government).
•Support and advise local paid SRE teachers and chaplains
•Create and deliver high quality training for state High School SRE teachers and chaplains
And help these folk to be involved in a Union of teachers and chaplains to encourage high standards.
I value your prayers.
Steve

Can you imagine if our government in America would allow Baptists to present the gospel to teenagers?  Wow!  We can't even hand out Bibles anymore.  Please pray for Steve as he leads in this endeavor.  Pray for teachers to be saved so they will, in turn, lead youth to Christ.  selahV 

PRAYING FOR BLOGGERS

Today I am compelled to pray for fellow bloggers.

May the wisdom of God fill your minds.

May the peace of God fill your hearts.

May the love of God permeate every part of your being.

May the joy of God be your reward.

May the righteousness of God be your aim, your quest, your desire--more for your own life than that of others.  May you measure each word before you write.  May the holiness of God be your guide. May your own acts of righteousness and purity of mind, spirit and heart be unimpeachable.  May even the mundane and daily conversation about life be without fault before the eyes of the Father in Heaven.  May you render to others what you expect from others.  May mercy follow your steps and goodness precede them.

May your fingertips press upon letters that give a reader--be they friends, strangers, foe, or family--comfort, inspiration, affirmation, validation, encouragement and edification.  May any information you impart be that which glorifies the Lord and builds up others and stirs them on to good works.  May nothing you say offend a brother in Christ or bring harm to them in any way.

May your sentences illustrate the love of God within you.  May your words be a fragrance for the Lord.  May nothing of what you write bring shame upon your witness toward our Savior, Redeemer and Lord.  May the world read your words and be drawn closer to Jesus as a result.  May children be able to see your words and know your motives are pure.  May new Christians find direction, guidance and hope in what they read; may they grow stronger as a result of having come your way.

May you be a wellspring of gentleness, tenderness, sincerity, humility, forgiveness and grace.  May others see Jesus in you.  Amen.  selahV

Will You Join Me ?

Today and tomorrow I am praying and fasting. Will you join me?

Heavenly Father, I long to see Your glory and majesty fill the earth.  I hunger for Your righteousness and seek Your face.  You alone are mighty.  You alone are perfect and holy.  You alone are truth and righteous.  You are the love we seek in all the wrong places.  You are the peace we cannot perfect.  You are the joy we cannot reproduce.  You are the strength in our weakness. 

I ask You to show me any err of my ways and heart and forgive me.  For those who have grievance against me or speak ill against me in any way, I pray for them--that You bless them beyond measure with goodness, grace and joy.  Have mercy upon them and do not render unto them that which they seek to offer to me.  What they grab as stones of discord, break into pebbles of peace for their pathways.

I pray for those within the Body of Christ who seek to divide and tear the Bride apart by spreading falsehoods; talebearing; and gossip.  Please take the hearts filled with unforgiveness; intolerance, unkindness, bitterness and pride and empty them.  Please fill them with with forgiveness, tolerance, kindness, love and humility.

Illumine those with critical spirits; remove the blinders from their eyes that they may see the destructive nature they have for others. Replace the deceit with truth, and unseemly attitudes and hatefilled words with gentleness, generosity and kindness.  Pour out Your grace and love to those they seek to harm and hurt.  Let Your pearls of wisdom fill their minds and string cords of harmony and grace for the brethren.  Heal Your children, Lord.  Cut through the past heartaches they have suffered; remove their animosity and anger.  Fill them up with Yourself, oh, Lord.

Please heal our land.  Help Louisiana.  Be with the leaders and authorities over us--guide their every step and bring about Your will.

Bless those whose feet and hands and mouths carry the Gospel Message to lands beyond America.  Bless my friends in India that their families will come to know You and Your salvation in Christ Jesus.  Bless my missionary friends in Brazil; help them reach their people groups; encourage them and meet their needs.

For my writer friends, I pray you give them words filled with power, inspiration, boldness, and clarity that bring comfort to the comfortless, joy to the broken-hearted, understanding to the confused, and hope for better days in Your steadfast love and grace.

Use the foolishness of our efforts to enlighten the world for Your glory.  Use our weakness to illumine Your strength and might.  Use our mistakes and stupidity as stepping stones to Your paths of righteousness and perfection.  Refine us, oh, Lord.  Cover us with Your mercy and grace.  Do not give us what we deserve.

I ask that all Christians be renewed in mind, spirit, body, and heart.  May we be filled with such love for You, dear Lord, that we cannot move, or blink without exuding Your unfathomable love for others.  Let this be our only goal--our only agenda--our only cause for living out our days.  In the name of Jesus, I pray.  Amen.  selahV 

Please pray for Peter Lumpkins and family

Peter lost his brother yesterday.  Please remember him and his family in prayer.  selahV

my FUNDRAISER for MICHAEL SPENCER of iMonk

[UPDATE:  I have sent ONE SET OF THE BOOKS DESCRIBED BELOW in this post.  Another person sent money directly to Denise and Michael and asked that I sell the set again.  Therefore there are still TWO sets of books for sale.]

I am so blessed and privileged to write for Devotional Christian, a subsite of Tony Kummer's. When I write, I am rewarded with books from WTS Bookstore.  I have a fondness for books that can be given to new parents.  Also, I find that the books I choose make great gifts for children.  Today I thought this might be a great way to use the blessing God gives to me to bless someone else.

Does your church have a library?  How about a Children's Ministry in Need of Books for their Preschool Department?  The books I am offering for sale are a great buy and a super blessing for any church or home.  They are super for the grandpa and grandma to read to their grandchildren when they come to visit.  Mine would much rather I read them a book or story than to watch endless videos on television.  Consider this as you continue reading after the photo break.

I do not know Michael Spencer.  I do not know Denise.  I only know that they are going through one of the most trying times of their lives.  Michael is at peace with his life at this time.  But make no mistake in believing that just because Denise is showing grace, courage, and dignity with this part of Michael's journey with the Lord, that she is without heartbreaking pain.  Having been through an extremely difficult financial time in our lives when my husband had his heart attack and 5-bypass surgery, I am fully aware of her financial demands.

I cannot imagine being without my husband.  I love him beyond words to describe.  I know the pain of loss from losing my 33-year-old my and other loved ones.  It is mind-numbing.  Without the grace of God, and the full knowledge that His love is all we can depend upon, I could not even be writing this today.  With tears streaming down my face, I want you to know...that love is of God, and only God could stir me to do this tiny little thing for Michael and his family.  I am entirely too selfish and self-centered for this to be of me.  With that I ask you to consider purchasing the books I offer below to make a small contribution to the Spencer's need.  I will pay for the shipping to you.

You get FOOL Moon (reviews link) and the Jesus Storybook Bible (reviews link) for 20.00.  I can only offer 3 sets at this time.  But if you will send, Denise a donation of $20.00 or more (link here). I will send you a set of these books. Be the first to reserve a set by commenting here so I can email you for your shipping address.  Once I verify the money has been deposited to her account, I'll send you the books.  In the meantime, please pray for them. selahV

HOW DO YOU GLORIFY GOD?

Do you wear a silver cross around your neck?  Have a fish bumper sticker on your car?  Carry your Bible everywhere you go? 

When my granddaughter chose cross-embossed boots instead of fancy-stitched alligator, she saw them as a Christian symbol.  Yet today, people who do not even profess to be Christians are wearing crosses on everything from boots to belt buckles.  Many people who choose designer clothes with crosses have no idea the cruelty and humiliation that a cross really symbolizes, nor do they comprehend the glory of the cross.  So what sets a Christian apart?  It's no longer a simple symbol. 

A Christian's life is not cheap.  We were bought at a price.  The price was the life of Jesus.  He suffered and died a cruel death upon a cross for those who want eternal life.  He gave Himself willingly, obediently to redeem us from our sin.  Our bodies are not our own--they belong to God.  So often we live as though our freedom in Christ affords us the liberty to live as we choose, for whatever pleases us.  We take for granted the cross that held our Savior, and compromise the cross we take up daily as Christians.  When Jesus carried His cross to Calvary, He didn't carry it privately, He carried it publicly.

Isn't it amazing that something as private as sexual purity glorifies God?  Who knows but you and your Lord?  It's not like you stand in the middle of Main Street, USA and announce it.  But do people close enough to know the real me, know Christ is my Lord?  Do they know He's more than my Savior?  Do I honor and glorify Him with faithfulness and purity? Or do I find pleasure in things that devalue my witness to the world?  Do I set an example for the young people in my life with how I talk, dress, and live?  with what I watch and listen to?

There's not a moment goes by that someone isn't tempted to give in to the world's standards.  Sex is exploited in every commercial from jeans to hamburgers.  It's trivialized in pop culture and de-moralized in Planned Parenthood clinics.  Is it not imperative that we pray for our children?  our grandchildren?  The friends of our children?

What do you think?  Are we any better than the promiscuous young person today if we support the companies, food chains, and movie stars who advertise and glamorize pre-marital, adulterous lifestyles?  Do we condone this with our silence?

Pray that teenagers wait till they are married for sex.  Pray for parents to guide them and guard them with vigilance and edifying advice from God's Word.  Pray for better examples who glorify God with their bodies.  It's the least we can do, since our body is not our own, don't you think?  selahV 

WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND?

That's the question we face every time we log on to Facebook.  Tonight I logged on to do what I normally do, see what's on everyone else's mind.  I have to say that one of the dearest posts I have seen was written by a friend and longtime blogger, Tony Sisk.  Background:  He is the pastor who found out his unborn child, Miriam, was going to be born with spina bifida.  This is what he wrote today:

Things I Have Learned in the NICU (and in the hospital generally)...

 Today at 3:53pm

1. Diapers work backwards just as well as frontwards. My sensibilities are challenged every moment.

2. Babies are resilient creatures. Uncannily resilient. (So are nurses, incidentally.)

3. Neonatologists should use language in accords with their profession. No doctor, my baby isn't "snowed," she is just heavily sedated.

4. If you're walking down the hall in the hospital and you hear a sigh behind you, chances are you just need to get out of the way.

5. Nurses do all the work. Period.

6. Wash your hands. Often.

7. Ask questions. Lots of questions.

8. Headaches are standard fare when leaving an NICU.

9. I only thought I was a pathetic parent until meeting some parents in this NICU.

10. Windows are a good thing in an NICU.

11. Your baby still recognizes you even if you haven't held her, cradled her, or hugged her.

12. Life is a fragile thing and to be highly valued. "Sacrosanct" is the word that comes to mind.

13. Neurosurgeons should not wear pink socks. Ever. For any reason. Regardless of that eccentricity, they deserve every dime they are paid.

14. Stupid people should not have babies. I know that is harsh. But its true.

15. Misshapen heads will round out.

16. Spina bifida is a workable, doable challenge. I CAN do this. But not me alone. Get my drift?

17. Drugs and alcohol ruin people's lives. And their kids' lives. (I already knew that, but its been heavily reinforced.)

18. Mealtime is the craziest time in a hospital, worse than shift change. Hell hath no fury like hungry hospital staff.

19. Magnets can do horrible things.

20. Chaplaincy seems to be an impotent ministry.

21. Ventriculoperitoneal shunts: Tony Sisk is a fan.

21. God still works miracles. I have seen them happen.

22. Christians who do not pray should check their Christian cards

 

Folks, Miriam, was just yesterday weaned off the ventilator.  She's breathing on her own.  She's now being weaned off the pain medications from the surgery on her tiny spine.  She's still on a feeding tube for her mom's milk.  Pray for this wonderful family as they walk with the Lord on this journey.  Thanks so much for all your prayers so far for Tony and Camilla.  This is tiring physically, they have 3 daughters and a toddler at home.  Please lift them up.  selahV 

I Could Sure Use Your Prayers Again

It's been one thing after another.  I spent the afternoon in the hospital emergency room with my granddaughter, Bethany, who got that stomach virus.  Her mother stayed home to watch her two little boys.  Bethany and her baby boy came down with the virus at the same time.  Bethany is seven weeks pregnant and she was severely dehydrated.  That in itself would not be so bad, but now her other little boy came down with it.  So did my daughter, Bethany's mom.  Bethany's husband's father died last night and the furneral will be on Thursday.  Please pray that Jarrett doesn't get this virus.  Pray I don't get it.  I'm taking care of my daughters two little girls.  Right now, we're watching Scooby Doo at my house while the rest of the family is at my daughter's house trying desparately to get over this virus.  It is awful.  The doctor told my granddaughter to expect three more days of it.  She wants so much to be with her husband to support him in the loss of his father, but she can barely hold her head up.  Keep them all in your prayers.  Thanks so much.  selahV 

PLEASE, PLEASE PRAY

My dear friend, Nina, who flew from Kentucky to Oklahoma the day after my son died to be with me has a prayer request.  I share this with you all because I know I can count on you to pray.  She found out this week that her 2 year-old great-grandson has lymphoma.  Today they found out what kind of cancer.  She wrote:

"We did not get good news. Jaden has Burkitt lymphoma which is a rare form of lymph cancer. He is in stage 4 and it did show up in his bone marrow test which means it is in his bones. He will start a chemo regimen tomorrow which will last at least 4 weeks. A spinal tap will be done every 2 days to check progress of treatment. It will be a long hard fight. To see him now you would not think anything is wrong. He looks like a normal healthy 2 year old. We are devastated as a family. Please continue your prayers."

I truly covet your prayers.  Please put Jaden on your prayer lists at church.  Bathe his family in prayer.  If you see a toddler, lift a prayer for Jaden.  If you change a diaper, lift a prayer for his comfort through all the chemo treatments.  When your toddler writes on a wall, spills something on the floor, throws a temper tantrum or wipes his runny nose on his sleeve, please remember Jaden and pray for him.  Pray for his mom, Megan.  Thanks so much.  selahV

ICE IN OKLAHOMA

This is a photo of my hammock between my two stately pecan trees in my back yard.  Limbs are already snapping.  Thousands of folks are without power in Lawton, Oklahoma, (Oh, Lord, I don't want to be among them).  At this point, I'm still connected to the main source.  Folks.  This is a bad ice-storm.  We have 27 degree temps and the ice on my humongous mulberry tree in front of my house is weighing the limbs down.  Limbs that are over 7 feet off the ground are now touching the ground.  I expect them to break at any time.  My hubby got home a few minutes ago and said broken limbs and downed trees are everywhere on the streets and yards of people in Lawton.

Forecasters are saying we will continue with this freezing rain into the night when it should change over to snow in the early morning hours.  We are so fortunate that our school system leadership had the foresight to close our schools today before this storm hit.  Very wise people, indeed.  This is the worst time of the day that school busses could have been on the road. 

Pray for those poor linesmen and electrical engineers who will be braving the elements to keep us warm.  Pray for their protection.  Pray for the volunteers and first-responders who are answering calls all over the county.  And you might want to pray that people have the sense to stay off the roads.  Thanks.  selahV

HOW GOD GROWS THE FAITH OF A CHILD

Four years ago, I took my granddaughters over to my daughter's house to swim.  While looking in the pool filter drain, we found a tiny Red-eared Slider paddling around in circles.  The girls were elated.  "Can we keep him?  Please, Grama; please."  My first thought was, of course.  Hubby had some misgivings, but 8 year-old Brooklyn was so excited, it didn't take much to bend Grampa our way.

We found Snappy the year after my granddaughter had lost her daddy.  When she begged to keep the turtle, I thought of what my son would have done had he been there.  He would have gone to the pet store, gotten the best of turtle-homes, the right food and taught his little girl how to care for the turtle.  So that's what I did.  And Brooklyn took Snappy home to live at her house.

One day, Brooklyn called and told me she'd lost Snappy.  They'd been playing with him and left him on the bed when they went to eat supper.  When Brooklyn returned, she couldn't find Snappy.  She was crying.  She thought her dog had eaten him.  They looked high and low for Snappy to no avail.  I felt so bad for her.  She'd taken such good care of the turtle for months.  To some this would be a silly thing, to worry over a turtle.  But a child's pet is important to them.  Brooklyn was also mad at herself for leaving Snappy on the bed and not putting him back in his bowl.  She blamed herself for his loss.

I assured her that I didn't think Ali (her chihuahau), could have eaten Snappy. "He's probably hiding somewhere."  He was only the size of a quarter and would be easily missed on her dark brown carpet.  She couldn't grasp that in light of Snappy's absence.  "But we've looked everywhere."  I told her I'd pray for her.  A little while later, she called me back.  She was so excited.  "Grama, I prayed for God to help us find Snappy and about two minutes later, Mommy found him under the bed in the corner.  God helped us find him.  He answered my prayer."

I couldn't tell what excited her more--the fact that God answered her prayer or that Snappy was safe.  Today, when Brooklyn holds that quarter-sized Snappy in her palm, he completely covers it.  He has grown 4 times the size.  Occasionally Brooklyn will remind me of that story.  God has faithfully grown Brooklyn's faith time and time again through the years since He answered her prayer.  Snappy is just a tiny bit of visible proof for her to hold in the middle of daily difficulties.  Maybe God planned it that way from the moment we rescued Snappy from the pool drain.  Who is to say?  selahV