God, Your Life Planner!

Good morning to all on this Monday after Christmas 2011. If your Christmas was as enjoyable and filled with love as ours was, then you had a good weekend. Given our schedules, Waine and I don't entertain often however we hosted a party Friday night and we had a blast with new and old friends. We had dinner at our house yesterday and I can officially say that I have mastered the art of cooking lamb! Waine and I woke up praising God for His goodness and for each other. I fall more in love with the guy daily! I had the occasion to watch a movie, Soul Surfer. If you haven't seen it then you should make time this week to catch it. It will make Jeremiah much more meaningful for you. Also one of the Special Treasures I was given was a DVD that contained moments from my past. My niece found some old 8 mm film and put together a montage of images of our family. I saw my mother when she was young. There was footage of my baby brother Yoshio and my Dad, both of whom have passed. There is footage of my brother Koichi playing football and participating in a karate match. It is truly the gift that will keep on giving.

I am emboldened and continuing my journey in Jeremiah 17 verses 9 - 18, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve. Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay are those who gain riches by unjust means. When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end they will prove to be fools. A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary. LORD, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake You will be put to shame. Those who turn away from You will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the Spring of Living Water. Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. They keep saying to me, “Where is the Word of the LORD? Let it now be fulfilled!” I have not run away from being your shepherd; you know I have not desired the day of despair. What passes my lips is open before you. Do not be a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster. Let my persecutors be put to shame, but keep me from shame; let them be terrified, but keep me from terror. Bring on them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction. Amen. May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.

Jeremiah truly had a 1 on 1 relationship with God. He talked to God; he conversed with his Lord and spoke the things that were on his mind. Jeremiah knew the Lord could read his thoughts and that the Lord knew his heart. That being said Jeremiah is still speaking his heart out to God. Jeremiah was being persecuted for his beliefs and wanted assurance from God that He would continue to be the Refuge that Jeremiah needed. God loves this! If you believe in God enough to tell Him about your fears; about your need to know that there will be retribution for the persecution you have undergone;about your desire for prosperity, God will reward your faith. It is hard to have perspective when you are up close to a situation; when you are in the heat of battle you only see the enemy in front of you. That is the time to remember that God always has a 50,000 feet view of you. He has your front, your back, your left side, your right side, your top and your bottom. You are not vulnerable other than to your own doubt. Be encouraged today and pray for your enemies because God will deal with them for you. The God of Jeremiah, of Abraham, of Issac, of Paul and of Peter is your God. He is the SAME, yesterday, today and forever.  "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Amen and hallelujah!

Now may the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie

What Color Are Your Leaves?

Good morning to all on this wonderful December Sunday morning. Waine and I are in Thomaston, Georgia and are enjoying a restful morning. I had 9 babies in the nursery this morning but still was able to make rounds and be back at the hotel by 9 AM to watch CBS Sunday Morning, one of our beloved Sunday rituals. Freddie sent a beautiful picture of our 2 newest grand pickneys and I tell you the truth I can be having an intense day and then I look at a picture of any of my grandchildren and a smile will come across my lips. I hope you are also having a great Sunday morning!

I am continuing my journey in Jeremiah chapter 17 verses 1-8 “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point, on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars. Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles beside the spreading trees and on the high hills. My mountain in the land and your wealth and all your treasures I will give away as plunder, together with your high places, because of sin throughout your country. Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have kindled my anger, and it will burn forever.”  This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. Amen! May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.

As Christians we are to be known by the "fruits" that we bear which is a beautiful metaphor to reflect what we are intrinsically; what we are at our core is what will eventually manifest itself especially in times of stress. I was driving on Friday; my usual Friday errands run. I was on a street with only two lanes and my lane was stopped because a care that was 2 cars ahead of mine was trying to turn left and was waiting for the the traffic in the opposite lane to clear. There was a man two cars behind me who began to beep his horn very vigorously even though he could see that there was no where to go. The traffic began to move at which point I approached the shopping center I wanted to go to. I slowed down to turn right and now the same man was behind me and beeping, waving his hand and had a beet red face. I really didn't understand why it was important for this man to insult my humanity over his frustration with traffic. I remember thinking would I trust this man to teach my children, fix my car, handle my money? His core, his intrinsic values bubbled to the top under the stress of going from point A to point B. I also reflected whether my core values as a Christian were evident to people I interact with and I admit that when I am not stressed it is infinitely easier to move myself out of the way and let the Love of God through Christ shine through. These verses underscore that as Christians we are planted in the love of God. Our roots receive nourishment regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in and as we spread our branches so that others will experience the Love of God through Christ, our roots become that much stronger.

I don't know where you find yourself today but I know that if you have professed a belief in God you truly do not have anything to be concerned with. Now may the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie



They Will Know That My Name is Lord!

Good  morning to all on this Monday  morning. The weather is overcast in Georgia and temps hovering during the day in the 50's and 60's. The temps are going into the mid 30's at night which makes for good weather to light a fire. Waine and I were in Thomaston over the weekend and we need your prayers as we seek God's guidance in starting a practice there. The community is only about 70 miles south of Atlanta which will make it easy for us to come home on the weekends that I am not covering the hospital. There is a ready made practice and it would appear that God wants us there because when I tell you every thing has been going smoothly, it is not an exaggeration. So keep us and this project in your prayers.

During this Advent Season, I am continuing my journey in Jeremiah 16 verses 14-21; "However, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ but it will be said, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors. “But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the LORD, “and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks. My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes. I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.” LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, “Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good. Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods! Therefore I will teach them— this time I will teach them my power and might. Then they will know that My Name is the LORD. " Amen and hallelujah! They will know that My Name in Lord!

There is so much hope in these verses, not because of anything the Israelites were doing about turning from their practice of worship of idols; the hope here is that God never breaks His promises!! His promise was to Abraham and He intends to keep His promise DESPITE the disobedience of this set of Israelites. They are going to reap the wages of their sins but the inheritance promised to Abraham would go forward for future generations. As Christians, we are under the New Dispensation or New Covenant so as it says in  Romans 11:29, “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable”. The promise of abundance that God made with us through Christ is irrevocable. Nothing can separate us from the love of God; nothing including our knuckle head behavior. We may have starts and stops; we may have hiccups but our course to abundance has been set not by our own merits but by the Merits from the Blood of the Lamb! Hallelujah for the Love of God that is a constant in the sea of our own sins and disbelief.  During this Advent Season wake up each day praising God for the abundance that will be revealed to you this day. Thank Him that when you thought all was lost, He was there to calm your seas; thank Him because when you gave up on yourself He was there as your strength and fortress.  I thank God for His Son and His unwavering love for you and me.

Now may the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie

Just Two!!

Good  Sunday morning to all from Hawkinsville, GA. Waine and I are working covering Taylor Memorial Hospital and Waine is also playing in a golf tournament at Southern Hills Country Club which is a very nice Club here in Hawkinsville. The weather is very pleasant at 60 degrees and although I have been busy I have been able to enjoy the outdoors each day. Waine and I watched LSU beat the Georgia Bulldogs yesterday in the second half and of course this has been the topic of conversation throughout Hawkinsville today; that and Tiger's quest for his first win in over 2 years. Aleron's birthday is on 12/5/11 and I can't believe our "baby" boy will be 30. Wow! Waine is getting old!

I am continuing my journey in Jeremiah 16, verses 1-13 "Then the word of the LORD came to me: You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place. For this is what the LORD says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers: “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like dung lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.” For this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people,” declares the LORD. “Both high and low will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, and no one will cut themselves or shave their head for the dead. No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn for the dead—not even for a father or a mother—nor will anyone give them a drink to console them. And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink. For this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in this place. When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the LORD decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the LORD our God?’ then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors. See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying me. So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor." Amen. May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.

One of the reasons that Jeremiah has been a struggle for me is that this is not the God I know. The God I know through Christ is compassionate and forgiving. This God of wrath in the Old testament is not the God that is revealed to us Christians because of the sacrifice of Christ. This is a sacrifice that erased and erases our sins on a consistent basis which means that God only sees us through His Son, Jesus the Christ or through the eyes of perfect LOVE. In these scriptures God is telling Jeremiah that he must conduct himself as one who expects to see his country ruined very shortly. In the prospect of sad times, he is to abstain from marriage, mourning for the dead, and pleasure. In other words, those who would convince others of the truths of God, must make it appear by their self-denial, that they believe it themselves. By so doing, the peace of God that should be present, inward and outward, can be acknowledged to be wholly the work of God. By withholding His loving kindness and mercy the disobedient people of Israel will now experience the natural distress which is a consequence of God withdrawing His forgiveness and peace. God is also telling Jeremiah that there may be times when it is proper to avoid things that bring us pleasure and comforts as a demonstration to those watching that a relationship with God is a serious matter. Also, Jeremiah is being given guidance for those who quarrel at the Word of God, instead of humbling and condemning themselves and who justify themselves, as though God did them wrong. A plain and full answer is given. Jeremiah is instructed to tell them that they were more obstinate in sin than their fathers, walking every one after the devices of their own heart as opposed to hearkening to the instructions of God; they shall be hurried away into a far country, a land they know not. They will be driven there without God's favour which will result in their captivity and subjugation by the idol worshippers. Thank God for the Blood of the Lamb that covers my transgressions! Hallelujah!

Whether in the Old or New Testaments, God states that there are TWO (2), just two commandments that we must abide by that is to Love the Lord with all of our hearts, mind and soul. Forsaking any worship of any other man made gods or idols. God also instructs that we are then to love each other as God has loved us. This supernatural love would then dictate our behavior as being that of Christ --long suffering and forgiving.  God says on these two commandments hang ALL the laws of the Universe. Just 2! We are commanded to follow JUST 2 commandments--so why then does man make up so many rules that cloud the simple relationship we are to have with God through Christ. My belief is that man seeks to be god through these rule makings as opposed to just following the Commandments of God. This sin nature has been present since the beginning of time starting with Lucifer, continuing through Eve and then Adam and through us. Our sin nature will full you into thinking that you are in control of your life and destiny. I would invite all who believe that to delve into the Old testament and read what happens to people who turn their face from God and try to become gods themselves. I am convinced that God never allows that to happen.

During this Advent season leading up to the celebration of the Birth of the Christ, it is a good time to get back to the Basics of what makes us Christians. Love God and then love someone who you find it hard to love.

Now may the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie