Weep for a night; BUT JOY COMES IN THE MORNING!!

I received this wonderful testimony of encouragement and was given permission to share with our readers today.  A little background:  this was sent to me by a new widow, in her eighth day of grief at the sudden loss to a fatal heart attack of her loving husband of 37 years.  I am so blessed at this example of trust and faith in our Lord and only hope I can show such grace and love in the face of personal pain and sorrow as this dear sister in Christ!

“Have you ever thought about your testimony? Just what it is? This past week and all day Saturday, I thought about mine and my recently deceased husbands.

As people filed past and talked I heard his testimony in the stories, the love, the laughter. You see, our testimony isn't written down on paper! It's written in the lives we touch for Jesus.

Why do you think satan fights us so hard to knock us down? It is to mess up our testimony. We will all mess up, we all fall down, we all get beat up; but it's in the getting up, the correcting our messes, the loving those who fight us and want to destroy us that our testimony through Christ shines.

You see; it isn't anything that we do except allow Jesus to work through us that our testimony evolves.

Today look around you: do you see broken, messed up people? Then go help them out with God's love flowing from your heart and let your testimony shine.
Be so very blessed today in all that you do and comes your way. Know that beyond a shadow of a doubt you are loved more than life itself.

Revelation 12:11 ESV
And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death
1 Peter 3:15 ESV But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
Philippians 1:27-30 ESV Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.”

What a tremendous word of encouragement from one who anyone would understand if she withdrew into herself and grieved at this time of raw emotion!  Instead of withdrawing, she is pouring out encouragement to others, so they might see the mighty hand of God in their own situations!

Whatever our personal circumstances, when we choose to surrender ourselves to the Almighty and walk obediently in the Spirit and NOT after the flesh, He provides the strength and relief and comfort and joy we so desperately have need of in our lives!

Please freely share this with others who need to be encouraged and know that truly, God is for them in every situation, whether they see His Hand of mercy or not!

Brand New Creation in Christ

He said "BRAND NEW" not reformed, recycled, reused - Brand New!

Once a day, every day, all day long

My Dad used to say the sweetest things, to let me know he cared about me and was thinking of me.
He'd tell me he always thought of me once a day, every day, all day long.
I never doubted that he loved me.

Our decision to trust and obey God works like that.  We don't make it once, one time and it stays in place forever.  Our flesh is too fickle for such an easy way as that.

It is a decision we must make daily.

Once a day, every day, all day long; we need to choose to yield to the Holy Spirit.

Once a day, every day, all day long; we must decide we will obey the commands we were given.  To love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.  And to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Many of us think we have the "Love God" part down really well, even if we do struggle with the "love the neighbors" part.

God says if we aren't loving the neighbors, we aren't loving Him.

1 John 4:20

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

Jesus put it clearly as well.  

John 14:21

He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.

To love is to forgive, show mercy, encourage and think the best of others.

Love God today.  You'll be amazed at the results.  He promises!

The peace that passes all understanding.  We write about it.  We pray about it.  We read about it.  We dream about it.  We yearn for it.  We talk about it.  We attempt to encourage one another with thoughts and admonitions concerning it, but do we really HAVE IT?

We can and do.  When you experience its affects you will never doubt or question it again.  It is a peace that passes all understanding.  It is inexplicable.  But it is not unattainable.  It isn't earned, bought or bargained for.  The Lord just gives it, and one day you are sitting in a quiet place perhaps, or in the midst of incredible crisis and you suddenly realize that although by all natural laws and reasoning you should be panicked, you should be upset - you aren't.  YOU ARE NOT IN THE LEAST BIT CONCERNED ABOUT CIRCUMSTANCES BUT INSTEAD YOU HAVE A QUIET SENSE OF PEACE AND HOPE AND ASSURANCE DEEP WITHIN YOU.

I cannot tell you the how or why, but I will share this with you.  I am in the midst of what would "normally" be a very difficult emotional and upsetting time with one of my children.  Heap onto that the stresses and strains of moving, major life changes occurring, major ministry changes coming and the natural order of life changes for a woman in her early 50's.

I should be a mess!  I sat down this morning and prayed, calmly, firmly and with faith.  And then it hit me in the most wonderful way:

I AM COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY AT PEACE IN MY HEART.

Thank you Lord!  I praise Your Holy Name and give you all the glory.  Thank you for the total peace that passes all my understanding but which I so desperately had need of.

I can only tell you this and pray it encourages you - Abandon yourself to the Lord.  It is a bit unnerving, taking that first step and sticking to that decision.  You will be thankful.  For He is Faithful.

And how is your week coming along?  I would LOVE to hear from you - leave a comment, send a prayer request or just say "hi!"

and may the God of all peace be gracious to you now and in every time of your need.
Pastor Marie

In the midst of EVERY storm, peace

Luke 24: 36-39  Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and said to them “Peace to you.”  But they were terrified and frightened and supposed they had seen a spirit.  And He said to them “Why are you troubled?  And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself.  Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have Flesh and bones as you see I have.”

Peace our Lord and Savior assures us, is ours, and yet we run through our lives frantic and terrorized by every circumstance as far from peace as it is possible to be.  Christians, my brothers and sisters, PEACE, not as the world gives but according the creator of peace, the source of peace belongs to us.  It has been freely given to us and quite frankly the only way to lose it is to be defeated by deceit – lied to and tricked into believing that chaos reigns and has control.  Jesus Himself stands as our advocate and declares to us PEACE.  Will we believe Him or allow the terror of our own hearts to steal His truth from us.

Why are we troubled when we see the mayhem in this world?  Why do doubts arise in our hearts?  Why are we so frightened when He has promised us that we will have such troubles in this world?  We will be persecuted, we will be hated, nation will rise against nation and kingdom will rise against kingdom.  False prophets will rise up and they will deceive many.  Lies will be held up as truth and truth will be denied as a lie.

Behold, has He not told us in advance that these things will come to pass?  Has He not made Himself known?  Hasn’t He shown Himself trustworthy?  Don’t be frightened and don’t let terror keep you from enjoying His peace, his Joy and the freedom He paid so dear a price to give to you.  Just as He did for the disciples, He has done for us.  He assures us that no matter what is going on around us, no matter the wicked state of the world, no matter what our eyes see or our hearts tell us, His truth remains and can be trusted and believed.

Peace to you.  The Son of redemption has declared it and it is so.  Blessings to you my brothers and sisters.  Do not doubt.  Do not fear.  Hold fast to faith for He is faithful who has promised.  Keep in mind always that our lives in Him are Eternal and they are sure.  Recognize the Lord Jesus your Savior and know you are not alone.  Lift up your eyes and hearts to the His truth, that you may know His peace and receive by grace His deliverance.  Keeping in mind always that this world is not our home, just a place we pass through on our way to Our Father.

Knocking on Doors

Following the leading of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we were going door to door and offering to pray for people.  Only one said no and shut the door on us.  Most were very pleasantly surprised and responded positively to the offer, made with no strings attached.  We knocked on the next door and a man answered.  He seemed rather distracted, but invited us in and asked us to sit down.  We made the offer to pray and he accepted, but had some questions he wanted to asked first.

At the end of our impromptu interview, he allowed us to pray for him and his family.  He asked where we gathered on Sunday and we told him along with a welcome to join us anytime he chose.

His children began attending regularly and became part of the church family.  Several times when they were not working he and his wife joined us as well.

As we are a traveling ministry, the time came for us to move on.  Joyfully we bid farewell to our new friends and followed the Lords leading once more to parts unknown.  Several months later we received a phone call from the pastor of that church we'd worked with while in that area.  He asked if we remembered the gentleman on who's door we had knocked who subsequently visited the church.  We said we did.  Then he shared a story that reminded us and encouraged us in the work God has called us to.

Pastor began "Jim (not his real name) called me out of the blue the other day.  He wanted to share a story for me to pass on to you.  He said that day we came to his door and offered to pray for him, he had at that very moment been sitting in his office.  His marriage was falling apart and his business was a mess.  He cried out to God and asked for help.  Right then is when we knocked on his door!"

Since then, with open hearts to the Lord this family has received much healing and deliverance.  If Jim hadn't called Pastor to share with him, we never would have known the impact our little insignificant act of obedience had harvested for the Glory of God Almighty!  We don't always see the result, but God always knows the end He is moving us toward.  Always, it is for not only our good but the good of others as well.

What a mighty, awesome, loving, kind and infinitely creative God we serve!  This story and so many others like it are the reason we have forsaken all to travel where the Holy Spirit leads and share the glorious Gospel of Salvation through Christ Jesus with any and all that we come in contact with.  We don't count souls harvested, we just obey our God and trust in Him with all our hearts, leaving things in His ultra capable hands!

What a joy, what a privilege to serve the Lord and fulfill His purposes in our lives.  Whatever the Lord has called you to in YOUR life, be encouraged that He is there working all things together for good even when you don't see or know the result of it.  Every insignificant act of obedience He turns to SIGNIFICANT GLORY TO HIS WONDERFUL NAME.

ACCOLADES

            Accolades.  We all seek them whether we acknowledge it or not and do you know what?  We all need them.  That’s right.  We need them.  We as human beings need a pat on the back and once in a while someone to come along side of us and assure us that we are on the right path and we are doing the right things.  A father figure if you will that not only gives us encouragement but wise counsel.

            However there is a unhealthy attainment of accolades that some endeavor to get through manipulation and coercion, putting others down, even stepping on them in order that they might get ahead of them to receive a promotion, a title of importance, a place of authority that they might be the one in charge and giving the orders.

            Those with an unhealthy attitude often find themselves constantly covering their tracks, having told lie upon lie in order that they may sound important or even terribly spiritual, but always unequivocally in charge and therefore worthy to be approached only with reverence.  The image that they are creating is hard to live up to even for themselves which usually encourages more lies and hypocritical actions in order that they seem super human; a real live super hero having no faults, shortcomings or weaknesses of any kind.

            Are you looking for accolades? Do you need a pat on the back?  We all do.  We need to know that our existence on this planet means something; we want to exit stage right and leave behind some kind of lasting impression. 

            May I suggest that we find solace in our Heavenly Father and that we find importance in the fact that He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for us.  Steal away from your routines, go to your mountaintop,  your prayer closet or just go for a walk.  Your Heavenly Father wants to put His arm around you, encourage you and give you all the accolades you need and deserve and you just simply have to be yourself.  Be who He has made you to be.  You don’t have to be a super hero or have super human strength.  His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

            Let me tell you: it is a great feeling to come before Him naked, arms open, heart expectant, ready to receive from him the accolades we need and deserve and to obtain them honestly.  It also enables you to give them freely and honestly to others who are struggling in their lives.  

A word in due season brought to you in love by those who know what it is to struggle in the flesh, and how wonderful the release when we rest in the Heavenly Father.  Are you struggling?  We'd love to hear from you.  You may comment publicly by clicking on "COMMENT" below, or send a private prayer request to turnthetideministry@live.com  Our gracious Lord called us to a family that none of us need stand alone.  United we are a strong Body in Christ!