and they either forgot, or ran out, of the bookmarks they were passing out after church. Last year they had a cookout, and although one had not been mentioned, I must admit, I 'assumed' there would be. No worries; we stopped at Mr. Goodcents for the Ultimate #5 and it was so good! Their bread is so soft and I can easily eat it (once I take the retainers out, of course). We spoke with Pastor Josh, but nothing was said about the bible study. We saw Bret after the 2nd service and he hugged us and said he really felt bad about dropping out leading, and hoped that we would all continue to get together; that we should all get together in a couple weeks for dinner. They have a lot of traveling plans coming up; many of which I'm pretty sure he isn't aware of, based on the past. LOL His wife schedules trips for both of them, or even just her - and off they/she goes! And that's ok. We didn't see the other two couples at church either, as we go to the last service. AND, Pastor John had a couple BIG announcements....
1) There is a church in Page, AZ that has been begging this church for the past 6 years to take them over. It is very small, only about 17 people still attend, and they haven't had a pastor in years. The decision was made this past week to change that church's name to Reclaim Church - Page (if you are ever up that way, stop in!) and there is a young(er than us) couple, and he apparently is a pastor for that is what they called him, he and his wife and son are moving to Page to head up that church. We didn't know he was a pastor, but that's ok; we only saw him at church. And, 2) we are going to start up - at the end of October - a 4th service - which will be Sunday evenings @ 5p. Hubby asked if we would switch to that one, but I told him no, unless we were asked to switch to get it started. It's football season, so you know how that would go. But that's ok; I could go, right? LOL Will see how that pans out. We are just out of room with 700 people coming in the three services and we are putting people in the overflow area for the services! Praise God for that! Pastor John and Lindsey preach the Bible and I love it! I'll share about yesterday's message perhaps tomorrow. I'm getting short on time.
I have my physical with Dr. Mark today. I'm kind of wishing I hadn't shared with him the test results of the inflammation. He didn't order the tests; but I did, and found out what I suspected. My body has inflammation in it. BUT I don't want to be referred to another doctor; I don't want to be put on a regime of pills and then there are the additional office visits 'every six months' to check.... ugh. You know what I'm talking about! I know I will need the bone density test and the mammogram this year. Right now I am debating on a lot of things in regards to my medical health. God is my Healer, yes, but sometimes He does allow things to happen to get my attention, if you know what I mean. I am going to ask Dr. Mark to give me a prescription for the inflammation and let me take it, and in about two months get another hs-crp test. If it is still high, THEN I will go to a rheumatologist. If I can get it down (eating anti-inflammatory foods, exercising, etc.), then there is no need, right? I still blame it on the bites I got 3 years ago.... the pain in my legs did not start until I got bit. Logical thinking, right? Since I started drinking water from a copper bottle, the pain in my legs has stopped. I have no explanation for that. But it did. After several months of waking in the middle of the night in intense pain in the the legs, I now sleep through the entire night (unless I have to get up and walk down the hall). What does that tell you? What is the copper water doing? I have no idea. But I just drink it in the mornings and that's it. My brother did a big research on my legs with the bug bites, and AI said that there is no way the bug bites (even scorpion bites) could still affect me three years later. I say it's wrong. So who is right? I am still working today but taking off at 11a to head to Dr. Mark's. Hubby has an appointment whenever Dr. Mark gets 'done' with me. It should just be a typical physical. What you see is what you get, right? I have to go to SQL for blood work due to my employer insurance. I did that a few weeks ago so he will discuss those results with me today. Enough of my medical stuff. I am declaring my body is healthy and strong and with God as my Jehovah Rapha (or Rophe), I am healed, strong, and ready for anything! Amen? Amen!
I did take tomorrow off work as I need to get hubby to the dermatologist office at 7:15a to have a spot removed from his forehead they said is basil cell carcinoma. Like the other two spots that he had taken off a year or two ago, it will leave a scar.... and he is dreading it because those shots in the face hurt! I will NOT be in the room with him; last time I was and I left when he started screaming. Yep. Can't deal with screaming. If you have had a shot in a sensitive area, you know exactly what I'm talking about. There ain't much skin on the face and he had two spots taken off last time! Those numbing shots go deep! We should be back home by 10a and I'm hoping to get my butt in gear and get things done. I didn't do anything yesterday; other than finishing a book, taking a nap, and then watching NCIS until 11p! It was hard to get up this morning! But in all fairness, I was awake several times during the night praying for a specific issue that was going on. I don't know how God answered ... nor how He will answer.... but I am trusting in Him for protection and clarity of mind for the one who needs it.
Ironically, with the prayer request that I received last night and have prayed consistently over, that is one of the thoughts I have about this bible study group. I think I mentioned it before; we need to just spend time praying for those we love, pray for the church, pray for each other - with 'some' study thrown in. Does that make sense? We cannot exist without prayer. Prayer is our source of Strength when things are crazy, and our Hope when things are well. I don't know about you, but I depend on prayer every single moment. I ask for a lot of things, trust me! Some God does answer, and I rejoice and praise Him. And some things God does not answer. And I still rejoice and praise Him. Why do I praise Him when He says 'No'? Because He is a good, good Father and I know that He loves me, He hears me, and whatever happens, happens for good. Romans 8:28 is often quoted when things are tough - and I will quote it here as well.
Romans 8:28 (ESV): And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
I think sometimes that verse is quoted in the wrong places, don't you? Yes, God can take the bad that happens to us and turn it into good, but that doesn't mean we will see what He changed. Does that make sense? How can a situation be 'good' when we can see nothing 'good' in it? I feel that sometimes all we can do in these hard situations is pray, then surrender it to the Lord to do what He chooses to do. The answer may not be what I desire; but He knows best and it may have nothing to do with me at all. I'm thinking for one of my sister's death. As you know, I truly believed, I had faith, that she would come out of it. But she passed away. I accepted that. Not because I am so good, but because my God is so good.
I have a son who loves to drink to excess. For years I would get a text that would say something like "mom, I love you, and I'm sorry." Or it would say, "I'm done. No one cares. Good-bye. I love you." When I would call to check on him the next day, he would not even remember sending me those texts. And let's not go into him calling me and saying he has no value, he doesn't care anymore, he's going to end his life, that is the best way to go, etc. Oh yeah, been through all that for years. Or I'd get the call from his wife telling me she had to call crisis on him, or he was being taken somewhere. It's so hard to get those phone calls, and those of you who get them, my heart goes out to you. I know what it feels like. You are helpless. Nothing you say will help. They turn it the way they want to hear it. It is their cry for help and they don't know how to ask for help. They know they need God in the worst way, but they refuse to acknowledge they need Him. Think about it. They know it. But they refuse Him. The only One who can help them through what they are going through. The only One who can save them from distress and disaster. The only One.... Jesus..... and they refuse Him because they don't want to admit they are helpless to do it on their own. Yeah, I'm thinking of past experiences. And they still happen on occasion. And what do I do? I go to my Heavenly Father and cry out for my son and ask for His intervention, and then I put my son in His hands and ask Him to heal him. I can't hang on for it will destroy me; I have to surrender him. Does that make sense? It's painful. It makes us sad when we get those calls and 'here it goes again'.... I get it. It doesn't lessen the pain; but it does increase the prayers for. And we keep praying.... always.
Don't let a situation that doesn't feel like it changes get you down. God is always at work; as we continue to pray, we need to relinquish each situation to the only One who an resolve it. And, if it ends up in the worst way, we still praise God, for He brought us to the point of prayer where we had to learn surrender. Surrendering our children and grandchildren to whatever is going on is so hard, trust me! But we continue to pray for God's hand to be upon them, for clarity of mind, for love to reach down into their hearts and bring them hope.
And with all this - I'm out of time and need to get the work computer on.
"And in all things......God works for good." Trust in Him, He truly is our only hope.
Blessings!
2 comments:
At one point during the discussion I was having, I felt the stress, hurt, anxiety, fear of the what if. I was in tears. I immediately started praying, and though I spent some time praying for immediate things to happen, I also prayed for longer term ones; for clarification; for them to see what/how it affects others. As soon as I said Amen, the pressure was gone, the tears stopped, and I was free of the burden. I let God have it, to fix as he sees fit for His purpose/plan. The Wife was upset for quite some time. She asked why I wasn't upset. I explained I was, but I gave it to God and there is nothing more I could at that moment. I think she went and prayed too, because she seemed calmer when I spoke to here a bit later.
I am so proud of you that you are the Spiritual leader in your home. You are absolutely right - once we give it to God, there really isn't any thing that we can do to change the circumstances. We pray, we ask, we surrender. That transfers the responsibility to God. It's not our worry; we put it in His hands for whatever the outcome may be. Love you bunches!
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