Sunrise at Lantana, Florida Picture by Terry Becker
The Holy Spirit inspired our blog.
Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Extraordinary Time
R. Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God!
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R.
Let the sea and what fills it resound,
the world and those who dwell in it;
Let the rivers clap their hands,
the mountains shout with them for joy.
R.
Before the LORD, for he comes,
for he comes to rule the earth;
He will rule the world with justice
and the people with equity.
Emphasis mine PS 98:1, 2-3AB, 7-8, 9
We are bringing communion daily to a young man (65). (It’s amazing how my view on age has changed over the years.) Who is in pain!
Every day we walked in, I would ask, “How are you today?” he would respond, “OK, not good, been better, etc.
The Holy Spirit whispered to me to get him to say he was “Fantastic.” I did as told and told him to say he was “Fantastic!” He did as we asked, and he smiled. We told him to say it again, and he did with a bigger smile. We asked him three more times, and his smile got even bigger. We next said that every day when we come in to give him communion, our first question will be how he is and the answer we expect to hear.
I noticed I am turning into a Marine Drill Sergeant.
But
He is smiling, and as I pray you all know by now, the smile means the Holy Spirit is back in his life, and he has thrown out satan if only for a few moments, he still has thrown out satan.
We will keep pounding on him until he realizes God wants him pain-free, and satan doesn’t.
Second story: At a small faith meeting, a man approached me and said,” I have —— and you said I should thank God. I never said that, and I pray you know what we did say.
I went home, got a copy of A Lion Dead to the Lord, and found the page where we explained the genesis of the prayer: “Thank you, Father, for the Difficulty of ………. I have faith you will take care of me,” and say the prayer until I smile. A few days later, I gave him the book with the bookmark explaining where this prayer came from and asked him to read the noted area (5 pages).
We met two weeks later and asked him if he had read the five pages noted. He said, “No!” “I will sometime.”
In both cases, I could see God working in their lives, and they couldn’t and weren’t willing to make a change to effect a cure.
The thought that went through my mind was, what do they have to lose?
Sing to the LORD a new song,
And,
Let God take care of you.
Sidebar:
As I have reported before, I am reading On This Day 365 Amazing and Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs, & Heroes by Robert J. Morgan for the second time.
Today, November 18, the story was entitled “I Will Provide.” We will summarize the story because it perfectly fits what we discussed at the beginning of our Blog.
Hudson Taylor established his China inland mission in 1865. He vowed never to solicit funds to supply his and the mission’s needs but to trust God to supply them.
He reported, “On Saturday, November 18, we supplied the needs of seventy very poor people, and at the end of the day, after paying all expenses, he didn’t have any more money to continue.
How the Lord would provide for Monday, he knew not.
Over his mantle were two scrolls: One said, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us,” and the second said, “The Lord will provide.”
That very day, the mail came a week early, and a check for $214 was in the mail. Remember, this is 1865. This is a large check.
Hudson reported that the money covered the mission’s needs and fed the widows, orphans, etc., who relied on the mission for food. Hudson’s eyes were filled with tears of gratitude when he praised God for taking care of them.
I don’t have this deep faith.
Sad.
But I am learning that, Thanking God for the DIFFICULTY, and thanking God all the time in recognition that God Has, Is, and Will Take care of me has contributed to my growing in a deeper Faith that God has my back.
Who else would I want?
And by thanking God, I am Singing to the LORD a new song,
Gail and I wish all of our readers a Happy Thanksgiving. If possible, please take a moment to reflect on how God has cared for you in the past years and say a prayer of Thanksgiving.
Picture:
Sunrise, Enjoying God’s presence on one of our regular family walks in Lantana, Florida Picture by Terry Becker.
Please keep Snapping!
Email me if you want a copy of the prayers we discussed or the three hiking pictures we showed.
fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, please do not include people. We have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
