It has been a few months since I posted on my blog because I was not sure what I wanted to write, but after much contemplation I feel the Holy Spirit prompting me to write about the year passing, 2012. All I can say is WOW what a year for me. I don’t think I have had such an eventful year, in many years.
The first of January I shared with my Care Group the Word God spoke to me and that word was “trust me”. I have really had reason to trust Him this year 2012. He never fails and He never walks away. I will never let go of His love.
It began with a right eye macular tear. Come on who has that, I’m a nurse and I only remember studying about it in the text books. I don’t recall ever knowing anybody with a macular tear, although I have to say my experience as a nurse has been in the area of the digestive system upper and lower.
As the story goes not only did I have to deal with the surgery to repair this hole but I had to remain head down, I mean really down for 7 days 24 hours a day. Believe me when I say I really missed looking forward to my first cup of coffee in the morning. It’s not right drinking your coffee through a straw. Coffee must be sipped hot and enjoyed, because no other cup for me during the day is as good as the first.
Talking to folks and watching TV was awkward because I had to do it looking through a mirror. I had to eat very carefully because Lord knows I didn’t want to choke with no one with me during the day. Recovery was an awful 7 days.
As if that was not enough a cataract began to develop as a result of the surgery. I was told to expect that to happen but, I was hoping I would be the exception. NOT.
As if that was not enough a cataract began to develop as a result of the surgery. I was told to expect that to happen but, I was hoping I would be the exception. NOT.
When I walked into the One Day Surgery on the day the doctor schedules all his cataract surgeries I found myself in a room full of older senior citizens. I really felt out of place because I did not look like I belonged. How is it we always think we look younger to ourselves than we do to others, but I felt sure those folks were wondering what I was doing there.
The recovery was easy and I was back to my normal activity within a few days.
When I was recovering from my first surgery I found I was able to listen to the Bible on my computer. I really liked that because I comprehended more and didn’t find myself dozing off. It was also during this time I began writing my blog.
The church had started a study called an Interactive Relationship with God, calling us into a deeper more intimate relationship with Him. We had a reading plan bringing more intentionality to engaging God’s Word. We were being taught how to meditate and how to enter the story as we read God’s Word. I have to admit before this I was not committed to a lesson plan and was remiss in my prayers. (Sorry too say that.)
Beth Moore says, “When God wants you on your knees and you don’t go down, he will break your legs.” I guess that is what happened to me. I was stopped dead still in my tracks, and when I picked up the Word, and began the study that is when He began to open His Word up to me as never before.
I can not tell you how much this Bible Study has meant to me this year. I have learned more about how to read the Bible, meditate and pray more effectively than I have since I became a Christian. That is not to say I have not had great teaching…….. I have but this has been different, it was a how to do it study. Thank you Dennis and Pastor Daniel for all I have learned this year. You both worked very hard to bring this to the church and it shows.
I know God is going to take what he has given me and use me more effectively. I look forward to 2013 and the movement of God in our church and community.
In March Lovell and I were invited to a meet and greet luncheon for Pastor Gary Mann. He is a minister of God and is gifted in the prophetic. As we were all gathering up to leave Pastor Mann called me over and begin to speak a Word from the Lord to me. Tears began to stream down my cheeks and I said God must have truly revealed that to you because nobody else knows my heart like that, not even Lovell.
I had begun to write in my journal the first part of the year and I went home and hurriedly began to put on paper what he said before I forgot. I will not go into what he said because it is private to me.
Later in the month of March God gave me a dream. I wrote extensively about this dream in an entry of my blog titled,” The Gift Finally Realized”. Praise God I wait for more manifestations of the gifts You God have given me.
In June our oldest grandson graduated high school and came to spend the summer with us before he entered college. That was a great opportunity to get to know him better. I loved having him here with us. I doted on him for 2 months, cooking his favorite meals and taking good care of him as he worked. I wanted to get him involved with the older youth at our church but that did not happen because of first one thing and then another, but God’s plan is the best and I yield to Him. “Trust me” was resounding in my head.
We began to have other ministers with gifts of the prophetic teach in our home. Words began to come forth relating to our home, and the same Word given to me in March by Pastor Mann. This could only be God. If you have never been given a prophetic message from God, get into the presence of these ministers of God and see if He has something for you.
There are probably those that will read this blog and deny what God does, but if you have ever had your mail read by one of these men of God it is hard to deny the truth in what they say.
Time marches on and as I sit in the presence of Jehovah on the end of my sofa early in the morning I am getting closer and closer to my Abba Father, hearing his voice more clearly than I have ever heard it before.
In July I was in an auto accident that totaled my car. I was thankful for my car because there were no payments to be made, and when it was crashed I was crushed. I kept hearing God say, “trust me”. The accident could have been one to take my life but in:
Psalm 34:7 scripture states:
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him,
and He delivers them.”
And in Psalm 34:15
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and His ears are attentive to their cry;
And in Psalm 34:17
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
He delivers them from all their troubles.
Thank you Jesus for protecting me from the evil one. Only 1 tiny bruise on my lower left leg.
The world we live in is so dangerous as evidenced by all the drugs, and drug related crimes, the shootings in our public places and schools, and just today a man burned his home hoping to burn the homes of people around him. He also killed his mother, and the remains of his sister were found in his home. But, I have peace in my spirit because I have Jesus in my heart. We as Christians need to be less complacent and fight against the enemy, the enemy that is a thief.
In John 10:10 scripture states:
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they (you) may have life, and have it to the full.
As Christians Jesus gave us authority over Satan when He sat down at the right hand of the Father, and received that authority from God. We do not have to live in fear of what Satan might steal from us.
In Ephesians 1:18-23 Scripture states:
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people,
19 and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength
20 He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
22 And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way.
We are not wimps we have Christ in us the Hope of glory. So let us stand up and say, greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. Let us say NO devil stay away from my family, because they are covered by the precious blood that Jesus shed on the cross, and NO weapon you can forge against me, or them will prosper because of that blood.
You probably think the enemy has stolen a lot from me this year but not so, Christ has “given back to me good measure pressed down and shaken together.” My vision has been restored from 20/200 to 20/30. The surgeon that repaired my eye was a Christian and also everyone in his office. My car was replaced with a beautiful new shiny red one. What a blessing.
I fear not because He is with me.
Well 12-21-12 has come and gone, and again the world did not end. Any one that knows anything about the Bible should have known that the world was not going to end. Only God knows the day and hour He will send His Son back for us. Not even the Son knows that. Just be ready because the world we live in is certainly headed in that direction.
Christmas for Lovell and me has come and gone. We were blessed to have all our children here for the holidays and in church with us on Sunday. What more could a Mom want than to know she will spend eternity with her family. I hope all who read this can say the same, and if not it’s not too late. God attends his ear to the cry of his children. Never, never, never give up on them.
It is my prayer all who read this story have a Happy New Year, one filled with the presence of Jehovah, God Almighty Prince of Peace…….
Jackie
