Have you ever wondered why God delivered and rescued one person but left others to “suffer their fate”?

I remember reading about the story of Daniel in the Lions den, first as a child in my Sunday school class and then later with a little greater maturity under my belt. 

In the course of studying history and in particular the history of the Christian church I considered myself part of, I discovered that first century Christians were regularly “thrown to the Lions” in arenas as entertainment. I also learned of many other gruesome and horrific actions taken against and upon the persons of those who professed Christ including being burned alive and even being crucified just as Christ himself had been crucified. 

In meditating upon the word of God and thinking in my deepest soul about what the Bible stories revealed to me about the attributes and character of the God I was aligning myself with, I found myself wondering why Daniel was rescued from the Lions but those later Christians weren’t? 

I wondered why some people were delivered, like Shadrach Meshack and Abednego but not the Christians in Sudan or Nigeria today?


Did God only reach out his hand of power when there was a story to be told? Is it simply a matter of faith or lack of faith? Didn't the Bible teach us that God was not a respecter of persons, but a respecter of conditions? Was it about dedication or lack of dedication on the part of the believer or unbeliever? What about these stories could I discover about God himself and the people of God who believe and trust him? 

This one thought continually highlighted and pressed itself upon my heart; God has an eternal perspective that we in our limited humanity cannot even begin to grasp. 

Then I found myself wondering if that is the answer, is it an acceptable answer? Which actually leads me to a further question! Who am I or any other created being to question the one who created us? 

Which led me to think of Job. When he went through the devastation and the horrific loss along with his wife, of their 10 loved children and everything else in their lives, and he asked God about it, the answer he got is astounding and marvelous all at the same time; 

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the world?” God asked back.

And that led me to what I felt was a simple answer. 

I am not God. You are not God. 

We do not know all of the many many mysteries of the universe and of the supernatural and the spirit and of God himself!  We simply don’t know what we don’t know!

Only God knows these mysteries, precisely because he alone is God! And we are left with a simple choice. 

Trust him and receive the many benefits that come from that, even while we suffer the effects of our sinful nature and this sinful fallen world we live in, or don’t trust him and accept the consequences of that choice whatever they may be.

Do you WANT to be made well?

Asking a question like this of someone who is suffering and has suffered for a very long time from a debilitating and dreadful disease might seem cruel and heartless.

Afterall, who doesn't want to be made well when they are sick?  Are there people who might actually prefer their pain and suffering to health and well being?

Before you get the idea I am totally heartless, let me just reveal the truth.

I didn't ask this question of anyone.

Then who did? you may wonder.

JESUS DID!

It was the question he asked a man who had suffered from some terrible infirmity for 38 years!

John 5: 1-9

After this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus wet up to Jerusalem.  Now there was in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda having five porches.  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed waiting for the moving of the water.

for an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was made well of whatever disease he had.

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity THIRTY EIGHT YEARS! (emphasis mine) WOW!  That is a very long time to be sick!

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time He said to him, "Do You want to be made well?"

The sick man answered him " Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool ;when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming another steps down before me."

I find it interesting that this mans answer was not a resounding YES!, but instead, an excuse of why in 38 years he hasn't been made well!

What would you have answered?

Is it possible that we are so comfortable in our infirmities where little is expected of us , where much is done FOR US, where there is little to no demand made upon us, that we, too would have offered Jesus an excuse for remaining as we are rather than grabbing hold of the opportunity to heal and grow and move forward?

Is it possible that we simply don't care enough to do the deeper, harder work of lining our own thoughts, words and actions up with the Christian belief we claim?

I think we can all agree that none of us is "there yet", however, it is just as appropriate to say that there should be some kind of evidence that we are on our way to that standard the Lord puts in front of us as a challenge!  "Be ye holy as I am holy."

Verse 8: Jesus said to him, "Take up your bed and walk."

Do you hear Him giving you a similar command?  No excuses, just take charge of the words you speak!  Take control of the way you treat others!  Forgive as you have been forgiven!  Give grace as grace has been made yours!

We slip, but are we taking steps to STOP SLIPPING?  To be a christian is as simple as calling on the name of Jesus.  To LIVE Christian is to surrender to the Holy Spirit to be changed, TRANSFORMED, by the Word of God!

Honestly?  That's the hardest work of all!

What Evangelism is

Jesus Saves....we assist!

REPOSTING THIS IN HONOR OF MY MOTHERS 80TH BIRTHDAY:

Forgiving my mother was the greatest gift I have ever received.

Not just imagined slights, words misunderstood or minor infractions every parent commits.  I had real, serious emotional and physical injury inflicted.  Mental, physical and sexual abuse.  Neglect.  Spiritual abuse. 

The day I forgave her every single bit without regret, without holding back, I also received forgiveness.  I forgave myself for the little child who didn’t know better.  I forgave myself the pain and hurt I’d inflicted on myself over the years as a result.  I forgave myself for the thick, horrible walls I’d built trying to protect myself, which had only isolated me from much of the world, and kept me from relationships that might have been, if I’d been emotionally healthier.

I forgave myself for the parenting mistakes I made, the tense manner in which I raised my children and the fear I’d held onto that stole so much of my young adulthood.

One day, there came the right time to tell my mother that she was forgiven.

What happened next was nothing short of miraculously amazing. 

All those years I’d let unforgiveness fester, thinking SHE didn’t deserve it, or that I couldn’t forgive until she asked forgiveness.  The day I told her I had completely forgiven her (a good number of years ago now) is the day she actually asked me to forgive her.  It’s the day she owned every rotten horrid thing that had occurred and tearfully asked me to forgive her.  She had a little trouble believing I had already forgiven her years before.  But since I already had, fully and without reservation years ago, that was the day true healing took place.  

Not slowly.  Not over time.  Immediate.  God healed me as completely as I’d forgiven Mom.  

Mom and I began to build a loving relationship from that very moment.  In a few very short years, it became the strong mother daughter relationship I’d always longed for.

Pastor Marie and her mother.  This year, the whole family will come together to celebrate Moms 80th birthday!
Mom was born again and saved 15 years ago, and most of the immediate family has accepted Christ

God healed me.  God healed her.  And God healed us.

You think whatever was done to you, whatever slight was perpetrated against you just can’t be forgiven.

I’m telling you it’ll be the most awesome gift you will ever receive; to forgive others, and really, truly give it over to the Lord.  Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay.  You know the forgiveness is true and complete the day you ask God to forgive that person or persons, and withhold vengeance from them.

It will be the most freeing day of your life!

Jesus, the same yesterday, today and forever!

This video to the left of this post shows our sister in law, Ann, at a healing conference.  Our God is Jehovah Rophi, our HEALER!  Praise God!

People will tell you that God no longer heals, that tongues have ceased, that God doesn't speak to people anymore.

Gods own Holy Word tells you that He NEVER CHANGES.

Which report will YOU believe?  People - or GOD?!?!?

WE SHALL BELIEVE THE REPORT OF THE LORD!

Father in Heaven, we thank you for your healing power and your grace that continues to manifest that power on our behalf, through the gift of healing as a manifestation of Your Holy Spirit.  We praise your name and pray our hearts remain humble, obedient and full of believing Faith toward You and Your Word, in Jesus Name, AMEN!

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.

Is there a Doctor in the House?

I was absolutely certain of what was in my heart, but not so certain if it were just me in my own desire.  So I asked God “Why would you call ME Lord, to preach your righteous, holy words of life giving salvation to others?”  I knew well, as did God, the sin in my life.  Though I had repented, surely such a past as mine disqualified me from the future dream my heart was forming even as I rejected it as nonsense. 

But I had vowed a vow, when that day of full surrender came to my heart finally after years of stumbling and sinning and trying to “be good” on my own.  A simple yet powerful vow I could do nothing else but keep.  To obey Him, the Lord, in all things as best I could, no matter the difficulty.  And God was, as clearly as I could understand it, calling me to take the necessary steps to obtain the validation of men He had already freely anointed me for, to be a Minister of the Gospel.  Every ordinance man had ordained was against such an occurrence, yet the strength of conviction in my heart could not be denied.

So I began a journey, difficult yet filled with joy in obedience to the Call of my Heavenly Father.   Who would accept one such as I, divorced, bankrupt, a sinner with sin that was very evident and impossible to hide.   To make it even more difficult, I am female! 

The Lord, so full of Love for His children, took me to an earthly ministry known for its stringent regulations concerning Ministers, particularly concerning women.  I hid nothing, kept nothing back, and even as all the rules of man said NO, God said YES! Accepted into the Ministerial Program, I was credentialed in June 2006.  Next, on to full Ordination.  I was on track, with many powerful and influential men and women speaking for me in this.

BUT GOD…. Have you ever noticed that when man says “But…” it is usually something rather negative that follows?  BUT GOD, when He steps in, He brings about miracles.  He overcomes the world, just as He promised when He walked this earth as a man, and encouraged His disciples, warning them that in this world there would be trials and tribulations, but we should take heart, for He has overcome the world!

Years before, when I finally let go of my dreams and desires and surrendered all to the Lord, broken, broke and divorced,  in jest to my friends I declared I would never marry again unless God Himself brought that man right to my front door!  Then I put all that aside and began to walk in the path my Lord was leading.

As I was moving forward in the hierarchy of the church, Thanksgiving day 2007 there came a knock on my door.  January 2008 I married for the last and only TRUE time in my life.  But man – man declared this was “unrighteous” and removed all support for me as a Minister, even so far as taking away those hard-earned credentials!

BUT GOD – who is the One who called and anointed me, brought me to a place where GRACE was spoken, and once more His call as anointed Minister was validated by man as I received  full Ordination as Minister of His precious Gospel. 

All through I kept questioning, asking “Why would you call ME Lord, to preach your righteous, holy words of life giving salvation to others?”   One day, the Lord spoke these words to my heart, and I repeat them now to encourage others, broken Brothers and Sisters who need to hear.  I heard these quiet questions in answer to my seeking.

“When you have an electrical problem, who do you call?   An electrician!  When the plumbing isn’t working, who do you call?  A plumber!  When you want a picture drawn, who do you call? An artist!  When I want sinners to hear of my forgiveness and grace – I call a sinner who has been forgiven.”

This is why Turn the Tide Ministries exists, why we travel all over the USA , presenting our dramas and working with local churches.  To bring life giving truth to sinners, that it is the GRACE of God that will set them free and change their lives.   He alone is the Healer of broker hearts! That no matter what the sin, there is forgiveness and wholeness through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! 

Tragic Child Massacre!

Like everyone else, I am horrified, sickened and sad beyond words at the senseless, dreadful and tragic loss of human life - especially one's so young!  My heart aches in pain, not only for those beautiful babies from Newtown, CT, but for those who haven't even been allowed to draw a single breath on this earth, because the GOVERNMENT of the United States of America has declared it will NOT PROSECUTE any man or woman who MURDERS an innocent baby as long as it has not drawn a breath outside the womb!

The majority of people would like to separate these two events, and pretend they are not the same thing.  Most will avoid saying the obvious because it isn't politically correct and acceptable.

Since the innocent children died in Newtown, how many MORE innocent have been brutally torn from the wombs of their mothers into just as painful, just as horrible and just as tragic DEATH?

We talk talk talk about CHOICE - but we are afraid to declare the TRUTH.  CHOICE isn't about whether a child conceived has the right to be born and live a life.  CHOICE is made BEFORE action is taken that could lead to conception.  THAT is when a woman has ONLY HER OWN BODY to make choices about.  After conception, her body houses another - a separate body that belongs to a different human being - NOT HER. 

Evil flourishes when people will not stand and speak TRUTH.  Let that NOT be our crime here at Turn the Tide Ministries.  We will stand, we will speak and we will not be silent for political correctness or social acceptance or any other reason.

We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.  He created us.  He loves us.  Everyone has the right to REJECT that truth precisely because He gave us freewill to do so.  BUT THAT DOESN'T CHANGE THE TRUTH OR ALTER IT ANY WAY! 

Those who have made that terrible choice to end the life of a child live with a knot in their hearts that will never cease.  Those who have repented of sin - this and any and every other sin - and have asked the forgiveness of God our Father and Creator - have received it and sin is remembered NO MORE!

While we are mourning the 20 - don't forget the MILLIONS who deserved the same right to live.

I do not write because I have any moral high ground - I write precisely because I am a sinner who has been forgiven by a gracious God, though I did not deserve it - and for that reason I share the TRUTH of His forgiveness and love with others.