God Answers Prayers

For the past several years I have been very burdened for my friend Ray who is in the Army. He was unsaved and quite content that way. He's had some very close calls during his three deployments (he is still in his third). In June he was home on leave and we spent quite a bit of time together. During that time I was able to talk to him a little bit about God and my dad also talked to him some this year and a year ago when he was home.

Last night I chatted with him for the first time in well over a month. He was recently moved to another base and was without access to a computer for a long while. During our chat he told me that he had become very close friends with the assistant chaplain and they had a lot of really good talks. We then proceeded to have a discussion about having a religion versus having a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. In the course of this conversation he told me that he had admitted that he was a sinner in need of a Savior and had accepted Christ as his personal Savior! I was floored. A rush of about a thousand emotions ran through me, at first a little bit of apprehension and disbelief, then the realization that this was actually happening, he had really become a believer. Years of praying and begging God to save him had payed off and Ray is now a fellow Christian.

As I considered all of this, my thoughts kept going to a phrase I use quite often, "Oh me of little faith!" How I had despaired of this day ever coming. I thought that God had probably just written him off, but how wrong I was! I am so thankful for a prayer hearing and answering God. A God who loves the whole world and is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. A God who loves each one of us individually, and cares about us and our burdens. Praise the Lord!

Mourdock for U.S. Senate 2012

So in case any of you have been wondering why my posts have been so scarce lately it would be because I've been crazy busy volunteering for a U.S. Senate campaign.

Richard Mourdock is running in the Republican primaries in May 2012 against 6 term incumbent, Dick Lugar. Our current Senator is now 80 and has become quite the career politician, not to mention extremely liberal, and is no longer sensitive to his constituents. In fact, he doesn't even live in Indiana anymore and he rarely comes back home to visit! On the other hand, Richard Mourdock (currently our state treasurer) is a fiscal conservative (Indiana is one of the few states that has a budget surplus), a social conservative, and in general an all around good guy. He's pro-life, pro-family, pro-tax CUTS, pro-term limits (and has practiced this in previous political offices that he's held), and on the list could go. While on the flip side, Dick Lugar has been called President Obama's "favorite Republican" even appearing on a TV add for him in the 2008 Presidential election! In fact, Obama himself has referred to Lugar as a "mentor." Richard Mourdock has done a great job in previous offices and I'm sure he will do a good job as a Senator! Below are some pictures from the campaign.

~~*Richard Mourdock*~~

~~*St. Joseph County Lincoln Day Dinner*~~

~~*Grant County Fair*~~

~~*Salamonie Festival Parade*~~

~~*Richard handing out pencils*~~

~~*I got to drive the truck...such fun*~~

~~*With Richard*~~

~~*Flotilla*~~

~~*Somehow I skipped some parades...but this one is from Kosciusko County*~~

~~*This is what happens when you've been on the campaign trail too long*~~

~~*Culver parade*~~

~~*Sometimes you've gotta take a break!*~~

~~*Elkhart County 4H Fair Parade*~~

~~*Elkhart County Fair Booth*~~

Even the Trials

"Have you thanked God for the life He's given you? Even the trials?"

~A Friend~

From friends and family to work and beyond life has been one twist after another lately. Things have been confusing, irritating, flat out wrong, full of people who are indecisive and careless. As a result my soul has been cast down and my spirit has been lacking the joy that is usually there. I've been troubled about many things and instead of relying on Christ as my Rock I found myself focusing instead on my circumstances and worrying about what I was going to do about them.

Last night I was texting a friend about something we were supposed to do today. I was not very optimistic about the outcome and finally told him, "I'm just tired of my life in general and this is yet another problem at the moment." To which he responded with the quote above, "Have you thanked God for the life He's given you? Even the trials?" It was as if God were saying, "Hey girl, quit your whining and complaining, I'm getting tired of it! You need to focus on Me instead of you, and you need to find that there are things in life to be thankful for, even in the worst of times." I felt as though I were a three year old and had been caught getting into something I shouldn't have and been thoroughly spanked. I'd been so busy focusing on circumstances rather than on God. All the problems that I was having were only made worse by the attitude I'd had towards them.

This morning I went to the book of James and read, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." (James 1:2-4) Patience, what an awful word. According to the Merriam-Webster's dictionary patience is "the ability to remain calm and not become annoyed when dealing with problems or with difficult people." So that was pretty much a second spanking. Obviously I failed miserably in this area over and over again. However, there is hope to the passage in James, the very next verse says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given him." (James 1:5) Also according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary the word wisdom is defined as, "good sense." So putting that word into the verse it would read something like this: "If any of you lacks good sense, let him ask of God..." So here I am, realizing that I'm handling all of these situations completely wrong, and I have no idea how to handle them. Yet the Bible clearly states that trials bring about patience, but if we don't know how to bear the trials all we have to do is ask God and He will give us the knowledge we need to deal with them.

God doesn't want His children focused on their circumstances. He wants them to focus on Him. Praise Him. Thank Him. Live for Him. He desires for us to be so dependent on Him that we automatically hand over our struggles to Him. He alone has the answers, nothing is up to us. Only when we thank God for the life He has given us can we then appreciate all that He has done for us. This is a lesson I am sure I will be learning over and over again, but God is gracious and long-suffering and He will always welcome us back to fellowship with Him.

Pastor Ole and Pastor Sven

Ole is the pastor of the local Norwegian Lutheran Church and Pastor Sven is the minister of the Swedish Covenant Church across the road.

One day they are seen pounding a sign into the ground, which said:

DA END ISS NEAR!
TURN YERSELF AROUNT NOW
BAFOR IT ISS TOO LATE!

As a car speeds past them, the driver leans out his window and yells, "Leave people alone, you Skandihoovian religious nuts!"

From the curve they heard screeching tires and a big splash.

Shakin' his head, Rev. Ole says "Dat's da terd one dis mornin'."

"Yaa," Pastor Sven agrees, then asks, "Do ya tink maybe da sign should yust say, 'Bridge Out?'"

Journaling

Have you ever had a time that you have so much on your mind, but yet you don't have any way to communicate it to people? I used to keep everything deep down inside of me, but lately I have found a wonderful way to let it all out, that is through journaling. In my journal I write all of my deepest thoughts, prayers, and dreams. I write things that I'll probably never tell another soul, yet if I were to hold them deep inside I would be incredibly moody and angry. It's a good way to unwind at the end of the day, releasing all of the pent up emotions that constantly flood our lives.

Cut, Cap and Balance Act

As a college student I'm asking Senators Lugar and Coats (from Indiana) as well as other members of the U.S. Senate to PLEASE vote for “Cut, Cap and Balance” because this will effect my entire life as a working adult, and my future family and children, as well as the lives of countless other young Americans. You hold the future of America in your hands…DON'T MESS THIS UP!

Quote

"You never know how far you can go

until you have to

RUN."

~Penny Chenery~

--Secretariat--