Living Life

Jesus, Me, and the Kitchen Table

Now This is Awesome!

Richard (my husband) an I were talking last night about a church service we’d been to a few hours earlier. The worship was so good. And so I made a FB post about it.  A lot of us do that.  We go to our church and then post something like, “Awesome Word today by (insert your pastor’s name) at (insert your church name).  My comment was not so much about the people doing the worship as much as the experience I had with the Lord.  I really entered into the presence of the Lord during that service and it was about Him. 

In the 1990’s there was a major move of God in Pensacola, FL known as the Brownsville Revival.  Over a period of 5 years hundreds of thousands of people flooded Brownsville Assembly of God night after night.  We were blessed to be a part of it for a year when we lived in Pensacola. The worship was amazing, the preaching was anointed and the altars were flooded each night with sinners coming to Jesus.  People were healed. Addictions were broken.  It was true revival.  

In 1997 SPIN Magazine, a secular magazine, came to report on the revival.  The headline of they wrote following their visit was, “AWESOME GOD”  

This is what happens when God shows up.  The attention is not on man.  This is quite a contrast to so many today who focus on the pastor or the worship team and post about them.  I know people mean well, and I’m not condemning anyone.  But we need to get our eyes on Jesus and off man.  Man is just the vessel God uses anyway.  

You can read the SPIN magazine article here: 

http://www.revivaljournal.org/2014/03/brownsville-revival-august-18th-1997.html

It’s pretty cool! 

 

Thanks to Richard for pointing this out.  

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An Unsung Hero

I don’t know who you are or where you came from. Perhaps you are an angel sent by the Lord to do His work.  I’ve just learned that on the night of my wreck, after we were rear-ended a red truck sped up and pulled in front of me to stop my car.  By doing this he kept me from going off the road (the highway is in a wooded area).  My car hit his but kept other cars from hitting me from the front!  There was not a scratch on his truck, according to an eyewitness.  What a miracle.  I am in shock.  I don’t like to think back to this horrible night (see my About page).  But it is amazing to see God’s hand at work to prevent further damage, probably saving my life.  I just wanted to share this with you all.  If the hispanic gentleman in the red truck ever reads this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. There are many others too, friends at the scene helping keep me awake, EMS workers.  Thanks to all of you. Love you.  God Bless : ) 

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Friends, Love, and Christmas

It’s so funny how one day can leave you feeling down and discouraged because it seems everything hits at once.  On the other hand the next day can be filled with so many blessings!. Total opposites.  That’s how the last few days have been.  The past two days have just been amazing, to say the least.

Yesterday a couple of kids from the neighborhood who were great friends with our daughters came over to bring by a present for Richard and I, and we also had a little something for them.  Mat opened his box with excitement to discover the Zip Track from Discovery Toys.  He loved it!  Maggie received an owl backpack that belonged to Emmarie.  I had given it to her just last Christmas.  But since she never really had a chance to use it, it was like brand-new.  Maggie had asked for it several times throughout this year.  But I kept saying no because I knew I was going to surprise her with it at Christmas.

Before they had finished unwrapping their presents, our friends Martha and John came over and brought us some yummy Christmas goodies and other stuff – gifts straight from the heart.  Such precious people. We love them and have enjoyed getting to know them since the accident.

My friend Dawn came and we went grocery shopping. So we had fun visiting and shopping.  We got back to my house just in time for a group of carolers from Living Truth Fellowship who came to sing beautiful Christmas songs to us.  There must have been 20 or so kids and their parents!  Words can’t really describe how special this was to hear those precious children singing about Jesus’ birth.   Richard and I were very blessed and touched, to say the least.

My friends Kristie and Jessica had been trying to get over this way from Dallas to go see lights and have dinner, but it didn’t work. So I had decided it wasn’t going to happen and was OK with it.  I knew we would find a time to meet up at some point after all.  Looking at lights isn’t much fun to Richard because he can’t see them that much, but it’s the tradition that he enjoys and the time together with family and friends.

Anyway, it all worked out about the lights and dinner because Mike and Angie had texted me earlier yesterday to see if we wanted to do that!!  So after the carolers left, we drove around the Country Club area and looked at the beautiful homes and lights and had dinner at El Chico.  I hadn’t been to El Chico in a while.  The fajitas were as excellent as always!   And the best part of course was catching up and spending time with each other.

Now that is what I call a busy day but an awesome day!

So today Kristie and Jessica were able to come over and visit for a couple of hours.  We always laugh and have a good time when we get together, and today was no different!  Kristie is determined to help me with getting some needed services. I’ll write about that at another time!

And now, another sweet friend is on her way over as I type!

All I can say is that we are so incredibly blessed to have such great friends who care about us and went way out of their way to make sure we have a Merry Christmas.  And I’d have to say that we are already doing just that!   I don’t think our family time on Wednesday can top the joy and love we have felt the lat two days.  I don’t mean that in a negative way against family.  We will just have an extended celebration!

All the while in the back of my head I keep thinking that I cannot imagine what Christmas in Heaven is like, but I know it must be beautiful.  I bet they have a “white Christmas” simply from the holiness of God and the purity of everything, from the glory flowing out from Jesus himself.  Merry Christmas sweet angels Emmarie and Chloe.  We love you bunches!

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Just Another Lie

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The thought creeps in and seems to try to hang around, “I know we aren’t the best people, perfect, but what on earth did we do to deserve this” (fill in the blank). But that is the start of a pity party to say the least and a lie from the devil.
Pity starts with the question “why me” or “why us.” Then the devil tries to make us compare our lives to others. “You’re better than so-and-so” and then we believe we don’t deserve the hardship we’re facing. But the truth is that I deserved to go to hell and have to spend eternity there. But thanks be to God that He loved us so much that He gave his only Son, Jesus, to die for our sins so that the way was made for us to have eternal life in Heaven. The other thing is we should not compare our lives to someone else. Our only measuring stick for our lives should be Jesus. Do we have a relationship with him? Do we live according to his standards? Even Jesus endured suffering and hardships. So why do we think we shouldn’t? And instead of complaining, he prayed and sought the will of God. I am seriously talking to myself here!!
Hard week to say the least. Seems like each day has an added struggle. But also we’ve been blessed with sweet friends who are coming to our aide. I even figured out how to remove hot food from the oven! Difficult but not impossible for a paraplegic!
I arrived at work and sat in my van listening to songs by Kim Walker Smith. The lyrics just say that God is the same no matter what, sickness, pain, depression have no place, and that His blood is sufficient… He’s all I need even when I can’t see it! And I sure needed a reminder today! Thank you Jesus!

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