A Wedding Day Miracle

Hi Everybody,

First of all a quick update on how I am doing, and then I will share with you a story of God's amazing power and strength.

I am making progress. I have had a couple of bad falls since the last entry and they have given me quite a bit of pain. About a month ago I fell and injured my knee and it still hasn't healed. I have a brace on it which helps with my walking on it. Just a few days ago I took a face plant to the floor and gave myself a good sore back. It is starting to feel better, but that was a fall that brought tears to my eyes. I don't do that too quickly with pain. Those are a couple of the rough spots that have occurred. Overall I have made more porgress. The wheelchair has been back in the picture a little bit because of my knee, but otherwise I have said goodbye to that thing. Yay!

Now, time for the great story I have to share. My sister Laura got married this past Saturday. She got engaged in July. When the wedding date was set I had a goal to achieve. Laura made me her made of honor and I wanted so badly to walk down the isle before her without the walker. I practiced down the hallways of my house with the cane because I had a goal that the cane would be used instead. I never really did master using the cane by myself. The night of rehearsal was the first time I had walked down the isle with the cane by myself and without walls to bump into. On the wedding day I was drained. My body was already exhausted but I knew that I had a goal that was yet to be achieved.
When the time came for me to enter the sanctuary and walk down the isle, I proceeded. Then I felt my legs about to give way and I didn't think I was going to be making it. Just about everybody I knew all around me was praying for me. I felt God's power released in me, and the only way that I can explain it even being possible that I walked with a cane was Jesus carrying me down the isle. That was a total miracle that day, and I praise God that He gave me the strength I needed at just the right time. Right now the cane is put aside for a while and I still use the walker.

I took a literal step of faith that day, and God didn't let me fall. He held me up and led me to the stage where my pastor awaited to help me up the steps.  The wedding was beautiful. It was a Christ centered ceremony and a great day to celebrate with family and friends. 

Thank you all for your prayers and love you have shown me. It has been a rough year, but to God be the glory because I say this with everything I have, "God's got this!" He truly does, and He has continued to remain so faithful, and has given me strength in my weakest moments. Even when my faith is dim, God still holds me tightly in His arms and continues to remind me He is all that I need. I continue to look to the cross and hold tightly on to Jesus, because without Him I am nothing. He is my everything and He is what gets me through each and every day.

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." 2 Corinthians 12:9

One Fall too Hard

During the past several months I have fallen many times.  Every time I was able to get up, usually with assistance, but I never hurt myself worse than maybe a bruise.  Last week I tripped again and landed on my knee wrong and ended up with a torn ligament and added pain.  I say it was one fall too hard.  During the past few nights I have been thinking.  Night time has become great thinking time because it is hard to sleep.  Anyways I started to compare the fall to my walk with God.  

As I've thought to myself, on the spiritual journey we have many bumps in the road, and times when we have fallen.  The good thing is as Christians we never have to worry about falling too hard for God to be able to pick us back up.  God always walks with us and if we surrender to Him, He will never let us down.   God wants us to follow Him and do what He has called each of us to do.  Many times we fail and try to do things on our own.  That is when we run into trouble.  Because of our sinful nature we do make mistakes.  But God never says to us, "You're not good enough, and I don't need you anymore."  No matter what, God will always be there.  

God also gives us free will.  He doesn't force us to follow Him or accept Him into our lives.  But let me tell you, that when we do commit our lives over to Christ and choose to follow Him, we have a peace and a hope, and an assurance that we are His, and one day He will call us to be with Him for all eternity.  God also promises us that He will be with us, and He will never fail us.  He uses every trial for good and there is always a purpose for every one.   No one can ever take the assurance away no matter how hard life may get.  No matter how many times you stumble, God will always be there to pick you up, and there will never be a fall too hard.  

Not Just a Sandwich

I want to share a story with you.  This is a moment in my life that happened back when I was in college...

The night was cold.  Class was just dismissed for break.  During my break I got into my car to drive up to the gas station just a couple of blocks away from my school.  I pulled up into the parking stall and began taking those few steps to the doors of the gas station store.  Sitting next to the doors was a gentleman dressed in shabby and dirty clothes.  His face and hands were very dirty, and his eyes were filled with grief.  He didn't have to say much, but I knew that this man was lonely, cold, and hungry.  He looked at me and asked if I had any money.  I told him I didn't have any, because I didn't have any cash on me;  just my ATM card.  But he needed something more than a couple bucks.  As I proceeded into the store my mind started going.  I got myself something cold to drink and a little snack to keep my mind awake for the remainder of class that night, but I knew that God wanted me to grab something for the man outside.  I picked up a gas station sandwich and a water bottle.  I made the purchase and walked back outside. I handed the man the bag with the sandwich and water in it and I said, "Here you go sir."  His eyes grew wide and he looked up at me and said to me in a tone that I will never forget.  He said, "You got that for me?  God bless you."  He acted as if I handed him a feast.  His gratitude said it all to me.  

I got back in my car and the tears started to come.  I began to wonder what was his story.  I never saw this man again and even today I wonder sometimes what happened to him.  God told me that night to get a sandwich for the man, but it wasn't just a sandwich, no it was something more.  Jesus shown through me that night.  I could feel the power of the Holy Spirit in me and God's love was poured into the sandwich.  God uses even the smallest acts of kindness to bring others to Him.  I didn't realize until several months later that God was calling me into something more than what I was studying at school.  As I finished up my college career and graduated, God had been leading me into a ride of my life.  I am still riding it!  Between that time to today God has given me many more opportunities to spread His love to the lost and hurting people.  He has definitely given me a huge passion to share His love to those on the streets.  One of the lessons that I learn is God will use even the smallest acts of love and change someone's life.  

We may not all be called to serve around the world, or even in full-time ministry but we are all called to love.  We are all called to share God's love with those around us.  If God asks you to buy a sandwich for someone, remember it isn't just a sandwich He is asking you to give.  God works in so many ways and He even can change someone's life through a gift of a sandwich.       

Can we Trust Him?

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

Take a moment and read this verse carefully again. Read is as many times as you need to. Many of you may know this verse by heart. That's great! I want all of you to be honest with yourself. How much do you put your total trust in God without leaning on your own understanding? I'd say allof us in one way or another have struggled with putting our entire trust in God. I know that I have struggled with that. I want to know the why, how, when, and so forth.

God commands us to trust in Him. But why is it so hard sometimes? That is a question that only you can answer for yourself. I know that I often struggle with it because I'm someone that likes to have everything figured out. When I find myself at a seemingly dead end road my first reaction isn't usually the right one. Trusting God is something I have to work on and have worked on during these past several months of medical issues that have put me in a place I've never been in my life. I have struggled with all kinds of pain and phyisical weakness. But it has been through those times that God has proven Himself strong to me. I learn to trust God more in the darkest valleys. I need to keep saying to myself, God's got this! When I say that I feel so much more secured, and I can rest assured that He really has it all in His hands. When everything is going great in my life I forget much too quickly that I need to continue to depend on God for every little thing in life. But God knows what's best and He works everything out for the good. God promises that.

What I would like to do today is open up this blog as a prayer chain. I felt God giving me a tug on my heart to write this for a few days, and I know that He is going to use it. What I would like for you to do is pass this blog to people you know and keep it going.    Encourage them to write a comment on this blog about where they struggle with trusting in God, and/or what challenges are they facing today.  I would like you as well to write a comment sharing what areas or challenges do you struggle with trust and/or your challenges as well.   It can remain annoynomous by just entering your first name only or put the first letter of your name. However you want to address yourself is up to you. After you have shared, then write out a prayer for the person who commented ahead of you. The first person, if you could say a prayer for me, and whoever is the last person to comment I will say a prayer for you. Let's start a movement of getting more people to be in prayer for one another. I hope that you feel the tug of the Holy Spirit and do what He is asking you to do. That is my prayer for you.

God is Bigger than the Giants

It has been a rough couple of days.  Right now I am emotionally and physically exhausted.  I sometimes feel like I have nothing left.  I don't know if I can hear anymore disapointing news, because I don't know if I can handle it.  It has been an emotional roller coaster and there are those moments where I don't feel like riding it anymore.  I feel like I'm living my very own movie of "Facing the Giants."  Only it has nothing to do with football.  I have had many questions that don't feel like they've been answered.  I don't know if you want me to write something like this, but I've said this before; when I write a blog, it is honest, sometimes I lay it all out there and most of them I become vulnerable with.  But you know that I will also share the lesson learned, and there is a point that is made.  For those of you that are new readers, bare with me on this and I do hope you all read this one to the end and will feel encouraged by it.

It has been a rough year.  For a long time now it seems as though one battle has come after the other. I feel like the raging storms aren't still very often.  Even through the highest wave, and the strongest force, God has been fighting the battle for me.  Today God has given me a reminder that He is bigger than the "mean giants" of my life.  God is crushing those giants and no matter how hard they may try to break me, they can't.  My sister referred to me as being like a palm tree.  They are tall and flemsy trees that can bend far, but they are strong and no matter how far they bend the cannot be broken.  This is  metephorphically speaking.  I have been bent far and I don't feel like I can bend any further.  But I know I have to rely on God's promise to me that He will never give me more than I can bare.  I know that God is here with me.  The phrase I always say is true.  (God's got this.)  Though sometimes  the enemy causes me to wonder, he still can't destroy me.  There have been many people in my life that have tried to discourage me and tell me I'm not good enough or talented enough and many other discouraging words.  Maybe you have had the same thing happen to you.  You know what we can tell those people that try to knock us down?  If we were good enough, we wouldn't need God.  But we rely totally on God's strength to walk us through and lead us to what He calls us to do.  There is NOTHING impossible with God!  Absolutely NOTHING!  At the end of the movie, "Facing the Giants," that is the scripture that they quoted.  What everyone thought as an impossible situation, became possible through God's mighty power.  Even though the this time may be incredibly hard, I can rest assured that God is going to heal me, and the dreams that He planted on my heart are going to become a reality in His time.  Even though I have been struck down many times by physical problems, people downing me, laughing at me, and telling me I'm not smart enough, no matter what element the enemy will try to use to destroy me, I can't be destroyed and neither can you.  With God's power, ALLTHINGS are possible.

Here is a song, that I have heard recently and instantly became one of my favorites.  Listen to the words, and may the God of hope and all possibilities uplift you today.  Remember He's bigger than the giants in your life, and will crush them like a bug.  Just keep trusting in Him.