Month: April 2009

Missions

Children are an inheritance from the LORD

A. Knight

Craziest notion that I had when we were “raising our girls”…was that one day we’d be done. Well, I had that notion…maybe ‘ole Jeff was smarter. It started out before they could talk.

“I wish you could just please tell me what you are crying for.”

Then years later, “For Pete’s sake…would you PLEASE stop telling me that! I’ve heard “I want” until I’m blue in the face!”

Well, maybe you had perfect kids. We, on the other hand, did not. They made mistakes. Just like Jeff and I did.

But I will tell you this truth. Our children are and have always been, even through the heartache, the ultimate blessing from God. Although there were times I thought I was cursed…I knew in my heart they were here for us to love—and to teach us life. And about God’s love for us.—Through them, I learned MUCH about God’s love and forgiveness.

And even having gone through the heartaches that the teen years brought, to have the girls we have—and the terrific grandkids we are blessed with….I’d do it all again. (Hopefully, I’d be a lot smarter though.)

What have your children taught you?

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Devotion, Life, Reflection

Where are You Headed?

A. Knight

I had to make a run to Dothan, Alabama, on Saturday morning.

All because I had forgotten to pick up my prescription before I left on Friday. Yeah, that’s what happens these days…not only do I have to TAKE cholesterol medication—but I FORGOT to pick it up from the pharmacy! (I don’t know if it’s the “age thing”…or the stress thing….maybe it’s both!)

Anway, I was fighting the traffic the 40+ miles back home and almost EveRy VeHiCle that passed me said PC Bound—or Panama City BEACH—or some other such celebration of Spring Break! All of them seeking the sunshine and sands of our beautiful Florida Beaches! All of them from the northern area of these great United States! You heard me right when I said, “passed me”, because I KNEW the Florida Highway Patrol were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! So I was driving as Jeremiah Castleberry accuses me of….”like a grandma”—going the limit of 65—and maybe almost 70.

As several Indianna tags passed me with the words printed on their back windsheilds, PC Bound, I thought to myself, what if I drove around with the words “Heaven Bound” printed on my back windsheild! That’s where I’m headed.

But I admit, sometimes the day-to-day sometimes causes us to forget where we are headed, our final destination —I am fully aware that this is temperary. Fleeting.

I want to share with you some glorious reading found in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 and 2 Corinthains 5:1-14 The Message —BibleGateway (emphasis mine).

(16-18) “So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow.
But the things we can’t see now will last forever.”

(1-5) “For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less.”

(6-8) “That’s why we live with such good cheer. You won’t see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don’t get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. It’s what we trust in but don’t yet see that keeps us going. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we’ll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming.”

(9-10) “But neither exile nor homecoming is the main thing. Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that’s what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions. Sooner or later we’ll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what’s coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad.”

(11-14) “That keeps us vigilant, you can be sure. It’s no light thing to know that we’ll all one day stand in that place of Judgment. That’s why we work urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God. God alone knows how well we do this, but I hope you realize how much and deeply we care. We’re not saying this to make ourselves look good to you. We just thought it would make you feel good, proud even, that we’re on your side and not just nice to your face as so many people are. If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did it for you. Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.”

I’m heaven bound…where the beaches by the River of Life will certainly be more magnificent than the “Panama City Beaches!” Nothing can compare!

By the way…I made these today. With white almond bark…mmmmm….

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Scripture references taken from Bible Gateway; The Message

faith

You are NOT alone

A. Knight

No matter what you think. You are not alone. Christ Jesus is EVER with us. You. AND me.

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?

Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? (Even the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love.

Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t.

Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away.

Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 35-39 NLT

Click and listen as one of my favorite female Christian artists shares a message for us today!

Have a blessed Sunday!

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faith, Reflection, Wanda

Passing of the Prayer Journal

A. Knight

With much nudging from my heart—I am re-posting something I had written after Thanksgiving last year for the Cafe`.

Hope [it] feeds your soul.

This week has been bittersweet. Our first Thanksgiving has come and gone without my sister, Wanda. She is with the Master—basking in His divine love and care! Happy and whole.

On Monday night of this week, Aimee, mother and I met with Mark at his house to, once again go through some of Wanda’s things. He had asked us to go through her books and pick out what was special to us. Well, of course, all of them were! He gave us carte blanche.

Among the books was a prayer journal. I have to tell you that night when I arrived back home, I sat for more than an hour, just reading. Meditating on what she had received from the Word, and marveling at the spiritual growth I saw in her life. And, of course I cried a bit. Especially on her entry for January 7, 2006. Please allow me to share it with you.

Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Can we say of our lives we live wholly for Christ as the apostle Paul did? “For me to live is Christ”…Yet, this alone is the love life of a Christian–it’s source, it’s sustenance, it’s fashion, it’s end. All gathered up in two words—Christ Jesus.

For me to live is Christ. Lord, burn that in my heart and mind. Lord, accept me; I here present myself, praying to live only in Thee and to Thee. Let me be as the bullock that stands between the plow and the altar, to work or to be sacrificed; and let my motto be, “ready for either.”

From the prayer journal of Wanda Jakelsky.

She lived that motto. I can testify to that. She worked with a willing heart and devoted spirit—and with just that same devotion, she left this life with her hand neatly clasping His. Her release of the mortal shell that bound her with sickness came with much praise from our aching hearts. As we stood around her bed, and the line on the heart monitor became straight, I felt her take her gentle leave. As a conductor holds his arm for the musicians to reach the highest note, I felt her spirit soar up off the bed and into His waiting arms. And His love held her secure. And His love comforted our pain.

I can tell you with complete certainty—there is no pain in this life, that Jesus Christ cannot see you through.

The complete total desire of our hearts in this coming year—for the remaining days of our lives should be just that. Use us Father for Your glory. For Your work. In whatever manner You chose. Your ways are best. Much higher are Your plans than ours. May the desire of Your heart become the desires of our hearts. May we too be like the young bullock—ready for whatever service You chose.

Points to ponder~

Start a prayer journal if you never have. Write it out in your own hand. Your handwritten thoughts will mean much to those who follow in your footsteps.

Take some time these next few weeks and list out some things that you feel are hindering a closer relationship with Christ Jesus.

Also, call by name some areas where you want to see growth in your relationship with Christ.

Lastly, give the passion of your heart it’s name and place in the front of your own prayer journal. Seek His will and direction in that calling of your heart.

Then stand by and watch what HE gloriously does in your life! And keep us posted!

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Hope you didn’t mind reading it again. It poured more concrete in my resolute stand.

As a prayer request from our extended family, a young niece on my husband’s side of the family, passed away during the night. Please be in prayer for the Ford family. I believe with all my heart she was met at the gates by her granddad Tom Ford. A man of huge faith.

God be with this dear family.

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