For Great Is The LORD, And Greatly To Be Praised!

I've been thinking and praying a lot lately about whether or not to keep my my blog open. Time is a major factor, but my heart in the matter was, "Lord, if you don't want me to keep my blog, then I won't. But if you do, make it clear, and bless it for your glory." As always, He answered abundantly and in a way I never would have imagined.

Late Thursday night as I was waiting for Josh to come to bed, I opened my Bible and prayed for the Lord to guide me in what to read since I was short on time. I'm not big on opening my Bible and assuming that where it falls open is where I'm supposed to read, but on this occasion the words just seemed to jump out at me at first glance. I was overwhelmed with His answer to my question/prayer!

I Chronicles 16 {bits and pieces here and there}

"And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record, and to thank and praise the LORD God of Israel...., Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people...talk ye of all his wondrous works...Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth...Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations. For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised...Glory and honour are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place. Give unto the LORD, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name...worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness...O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever...Blessed be the LORD God of Israel for ever and ever. And all the people said, Amen, and praised the LORD."

Notice that the very first phrase is "to record", and look! He reiterates what He wants recorded at least ten times!

TEN TIMES in that one "obscure" passage. {I'm just being honest when I say that I and II Chronicles are not books of the Bible that I readily open to.}

And THEN, guess what Pastor's text was for his Sunday morning sermon? Yep, it was I Chronicles 16!

You can't ask for a more clear answer than that!

So now that that's settled, where to begin? He has done so much...

This past week was the big one; the one I've been dreading, preparing for, and eagerly anticipating all at the same time. I've felt that once we got this week over with, we'd officially be on the home stretch of our move.

We had Vacation Bible School from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Anywhere from 60 to 70 children showed up. Those five hours seemed to fly by there was so much to do; I was literally running from one thing to the next every day. But I loved every minute of it! Twelve children came to know the Lord as their personal Savior, and now have assurance of a home in heaven! There is nothing on earth like having a part in an event of that magnitude. It's huge! By the time I got home, though, all I wanted was a good, long nap.

But, alas, there was still much to be done.

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My dad was transported to his final destination on the 19th. He said that his first impression of the place was that it was a whited sepulchre. The grounds are perfectly manicured, and the Tudor style castle is painted a pristine white, but inside they're packed into rooms like sardines. There are sixteen men in his room which is about as big as my front room and kitchen combined. That's not very big. I can't imagine having sixteen people crammed in here!

He's been praying that the Lord would restore unto him the joy of his salvation, and it seems that He was just waiting for him to get there before He answered abundantly! Every morning he wakes up with his heart overflowing with gratitude for all that God has blessed him with. Oh, and he said that the food is "Excellent!" He is doing so well!!

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My mom sprained her ankle badly from wearing flip flops that were way too big for her while she was still in Great Falls. I'll let her tell the rest of the story in her own words:

"By the time we got to Oklahoma, and got off the plane my foot was in bad shape. Swollen and fairly painful. They unshackled us and put us in a holding cell and there we sat very well. :) (my two cents --> She is so goofy!) We finally got to our assigned cells after midnight! I slept like the dead. Next morning I asked the nurse if I could have something for the pain. The super nice guard said, 'Come over here, and let me take a look at that.' So I showed him.

'You mean to tell me that they transported you like that?'

'Yes, sir, they did.'

'They're not supposed to transport unless you are medically able! I'll call a P.A. right away.'

He did and within an hour (I think) I was in the medical office. He wrapped it and wrote a prescription for Naproxin. It felt a lot better being wrapped. He also ordered x-rays, which wouldn't be done until Monday.

At pill call I went to the nurse to see if she had my prescription. She said, 'Oh, there's no way I'd have it already.'

'Okay, I was just checkin' just in case.'

'What's your name?'

I told her.

'Oh my goodness!! It IS here! That has NEVER happened before! That has NEVER happened before!!'

All I could say was, 'God is so good to me!' I smiled and walked (hobbled) back to my cell."

She was laid up in her cell most of the time, so her roommates were good enough to bring her food and ice and whatever else she needed. At one point she asked for a Bible, and a girl came back with one and almost apologetically said, "Here's one that's KJV. Is that okay?"

"Okay!?! OKAY!?! That's WONDERFUL! Thank you, Jesus!" They don't usually have the King James version in there. Every other version under the sun BUT KJV. She read it for two days straight she had missed it so much!

Her foot kept her awake most nights with a burning pain. Until it improved she knew she wasn't going anywhere. A couple in our church each sprained their ankles, and it took more than six weeks for them to heal. So we prayed for a miracle.

And we got it! He cares!

By Wednesday of last week it was much improved. So much so that Wednesday afternoon my mom said she was "packing up" for her trip to CA the next day. She threw all her letters away since she wouldn't be allowed to take anything with her anyway, and mentally prepared herself for the trip. Sure enough, neither Amy nor I heard from her on Thursday, so we knew she was on her way.

As of right now we still haven't heard from her. It takes awhile for their commissary money to catch up to them when they move and they can't call without money. So hopefully tomorrow....

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Our church family had a going away party for us last night after the evening service. It was such a special time! Everyone had such sweet things to say, and it's such a comfort and blessing to know that we will be missed. We knew that saying goodbye was going to be hard, but we had no idea how hard the reality of it would be. Oh my goodness, we are so very blessed! We love each and every one of them, and if we could only take them all with us, everything about this move would be absolutely perfect.

I wasn't able to say much last night because of the tears, but the things I will miss most are:

~Singing and playing with Kristy! Oh, the fun and laughter we have shared!! I love that girl to pieces. She is so very talented and sweet.

~Pastor's amazing sermons. I am thankful for a pastor who is so sensitive to the leading of God in His messages. When the Lord reaffirms what He has been teaching you in your personal devotions in the sermons every week, you know that it is no coincidence. Pastor preaches with such power and conviction, and what tremendous changes that has wrought in our lives these past four years! We will miss that so very much.

~The many hugs and manifestations of genuine love that everyone so freely gives at Gospel Baptist Church. I can honestly say that there is not one single person that we don't get along with and truly love here. Each one is special to us and we love them as if they were blood relations. Now that I think about it though, we are brothers and sisters through the blood of Christ, so maybe the bond is really closer than that of "real" family. I believe it!

Thank you all, again and again, for everything you have so selflessly done for us! We will miss you all, and we'll never forget.

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Josh has to train in Minneapolis for several weeks, and we don't close on our house in Eau Claire until August 3rd. We needed a place to stay in the meantime. We couldn't find a furnished apartment for less than $2700 a month, and since we'll still be paying the mortgage on our house here, there was no way we could afford that.

Josh was starting to get a little panicky.

He quickly put that aside though, in light of all that God has been doing for us lately, and decided to pray instead.

Within 24 hours Koch Pipeline called to let us know that they had secured a furnished one bedroom apartment for us that they were going to pay for! We were ecstatic!! We serve a God of miracles, we really do!!!!

If that doesn't convince you, maybe this will:

Last Tuesday was a particularly trying day. VBS was hectic, and immediately afterward I had to go and thoroughly clean my mom and dad's house for when my sister and her friends come for vacation over the 4th of July. Isaac and Nathan were fussy and wouldn't nap; the other kids were bickering and cranky. By three in the afternoon, I had about had it. It took every ounce of will power I had not to sit down and have a crying fit. So I walked away and prayed instead.

HARD.

Almost immediately Jesus calmed my stormy heart. One of my prayers lately has been "Lord, give me your heart for souls!" As the frustrations ebbed away, I began to fervently pray for the soul-winning that would be taking place that evening. I wasn't able to go out myself, so, with tears, I begged God to soften many hearts, that they would be receptive as the soul winners went out, and that many would be saved. I told Him that I knew that He was able to feed 5,ooo people with three loaves and two fish, so I didn't doubt that He was able to save more than a handful here and there.

I anticipated hearing how it went during the Wednesday evening service as Pastor usually announces how many were saved, but he didn't mention it at all.

Disheartened, I came home and checked facebook before we went to bed. Pastor's son, Kyle, lives in Washington state, and his status said that they had seen FORTY-FIVE people saved during soul winning the night before! That is incredible!!! Again, His answer came in a most unexpected way. I love Him!

I know my posts have been long lately, but thank you for reading! This may be my last one for awhile. We leave Friday morning, and I don't know how long it will be before I'm back online again. Thank you for your continued concern and prayers. They mean the world to us!