Good morning to all on this 1st Sunday in March. Waine and I are in Atlanta packing; God has blessed us with a vacation. We will be sailing from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Santiago, Chile. We fly to Buenos Aires tonight and board the ship (Holland America) on the 5th. We have never been to Argentina and it is one of the countries we always wanted to visit. We will be able to stay 1.5 days before boarding the boat so are excited. Pray for us and pray for our practice ZOe. I am already having withdraws symptoms about leaving the practice for such a long period of time and I keep reminding myself that this is God's practice and not ours and since He has entrusted it in our care, He will sustain it. A cold spell has hit the southeast. Atlanta saw snow flurries yesterday. Waine and I are snuggled in our warm house, so no worries. Hallelujah!
We have finished Jeremiah and I am praying for God's guidance on where to go to next and I am going to explore James chapter 1 verses 1- 27, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business. Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, Who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the Word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all He created. My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the Word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Amen and may the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.
What an exhortation to the early Christian-Jewish church. James was writing to the Christian Jews of his time and was writing to teach them the same principles that are operative today. When you pray, do you pray out of habit, pleading with God to take a bitter cup from you or do you pray boldly and ask God to put His power behind your vision and dreams.?When Waine and I started our practice the hospital in the community had agreed in writing to underwrite the practice for an entire year. We secured space, hired staff and projected a start date.The hospital lawyer then began to suggest that the hospital was not in a legal position to help us and their financial support was withdrawn. What were we going to do? Well I have learned when I have done all that I can do, then its time for God to take over! Its like those wrestling matches that allows one wrestle to "tag" another wrestler when the 1st wrestler has exhausted all of his strength and might. Waine and I had liquidated every asset we could to start the practice and began in faith because we believed that ZOe was God's vision for us and the community He lead us to and we went in every day and waited for God's increase. Never wavering despite the waves of doubt that came. I went in every day to see patients and Waine went out every day to advertise the practice. Every family he saw with a child was approached and talked to. He must have shopped every isle of WalMart in those first few months. I am a witnessed to the flood gate of patients who started coming to the practice. Every day our numbers doubled to the point that I am now at my capacity. We have opened a second site and I am hiring my 3rd doctor. Hallelujah! You see when you put your plan in God's hands and step back He will control the process and bless you 100 fold. There are people in this tiny community that are scratching their heads daily; what they meant for our destruction God turned into a blessing. He wants to bless you too; He also wants you to learn to trust Him with your life and your plans. Then at some point your plans become His Plan for your life!
Stopped being scared; hustling for pennies. Step back and give your life and yourself to God and feast on His table. He is never out of room or provision. Remember if God has given you a vision, He will also give you the Provision. Amen and be blessed.
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
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