The Process...

While I was doing the ironing one day, I all of a sudden started think about the process I had to go through before I got to do the ironing. And then I realized that it is similar to the process that God does with us. Let me take you through that process today.

Step #1: First thing I have to do is to sort the clothes, lights from dark. If I were to get a red shirt in with the white socks, or my dad's good Sabbath shirt, they would no longer be white :). And my dad would have a pink shirt. :) This is what the Lord has to do with us, He has to separate us from the evil influences of this world. (This is when we are convicted to go on the Christian walk.)

Step #2: Next I have to put the load into the washing machine. Where it is agitated and scrubbed and rinsed and then it goes through the cycle once more. It takes about 30 minutes for it be completed. God has to wash away our sins, and sometimes the cleaning is going to hurt. And to us it may feel as if it is forever, when in the sight of God it only takes a second. (Another way to look at it is baptism, but I'll just focus on this for now.)

Step #3: So now I have to put the clothes in the dryer, where they are spun around and around for a little over an hour. When God is finished washing us He must dry our characters out, or you could say He sends the Holy Spirit into our lives. 

Step #4: Some of clothes are done now and folded, but others such as skirts and some shirts and my dad's Sabbath pants have to be ironed. Now those of you who know how to iron you'll understand, but for those of you who don't, a short explanation is...you take the iron and fill it with pure water and plug it in and it heats up, then you take whatever you may have to iron and put the hot iron on top of it and move it around.

God must now iron some of us out, we have lots of wrinkles in our lives that we can't handle. And He must use a little heat to get it out, and sometimes He has to steam and spray us. Trials is another way to look at it, and sometimes we may think that the heat is to much and that it is lasting forever, but we have to remember that God is holding the iron!

I also like to think of these four steps as a sorting process. In the first step you have to sort through and find the light clothing, then you take that load put it in the wash and put most of it in the dryer. Some clothes can't be dried by the machine, they have to air dry. So also in the last stage, when most of the clothes are folded and put away, some have to still endure the test and final conflict.

In each of these stages, there are some that are taken away, and some left, and in the end, the pile that has to be ironed is only a small amount of clothes, or people. But when the ironing is over, they to are to be hung up and put away. 

Through the years God has done the same, He has separated the Christians from the world, then He has washed them, and some leave after that, or some die, and some fall away. Then He must dry us, and again most of the people will be laid to rest before the end time. Then the remnant people, those that are left, will have to face the hardest time known to mankind. But when it is all done, those who are alive and remaining will be caught up together with those that have died and we will all see Jesus in the end. 

To me this was a powerful lesson, and I never look at doing laundry quite in the same way I used to. I hope too that you have learned something that you may never before thought of, and maybe come up with something else. 

I want to go through with the whole process, so that when I'm done I can wear a white robe in heaven, but most important of all, to see Jesus face to face, don't you? 

It Is Well...

Today I'm going to share the story behind the words of It Is Well, one of the most famous hymns in the world. I hope you like it...and think about all the blessings God has given you. :)

In the late 1860s life was good for Horatio G. Spafford and his wife Anna. They were living in a north side suburb of Chicago with their five children, Annie, Maggie, Bessie, Tanetta and Horatio, Jr. He had a successful law practice in Chicago. The doors of the Spaffords' home were always open as a place for activists to meet during the reform movements of the time. Horatio G. Spafford was quite active in the abolitionist movement. Frances E. Willard, president of the National Women's Christian Temperance Union as well as evangelical leaders like Dwight L. Moody were often guests in their home. Spafford was a Presbyterian church elder and a dedicated Christian.

Until now Horatio and Anna Spafford had led a charmed life. They had everything going their way. However, in 1870 their faith was tested by tragedy. Their four year old son, Horatio, Jr., died of scarlet fever. The Spaffords were devastated. In October of 1871 when the Great Chicago Fire broke out Horatio faced another test of his faith. A few months before the Great Chicago Fire, Spafford being a wealthy man, had invested much of his wealth in real estate by the shore of Lake Michigan. Not only did the Great Chicago Fire destroy most of Chicago but most of Spafford's holdings were destroyed. 250 people died in the Great Chicago Fire and 90,000 were left homeless.

The Spaffords did not despair. Their home had been spared and they had their family. God had been good. Even though their finances were mostly depleted, Anna and Horatio used what resources they had left to feed the hungry, help the homeless, care for the sick and injured and comfort their grief stricken neighbors. The Great Chicago Fire was a great American tragedy; the Spaffords used it to show the love of the Christ to those in need.

In 1873 Anna Spafford's health was failing and hoping to put behind the tragic loss of their son and the fire and to benefit Anna's health, the Spaffords planned a trip to Europe. They would sail on the French steamer Ville du Havre to Europe with their four daughters. Spafford not only wanted to visit Europe but he wanted to assist Evangelists Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey in a revival they were conducting in England.

The Spaffords planed to leave in November on their voyage to Europe. As sometimes happens, God had other plans for Horatio G. Spafford. The day they were to sail for Europe Spafford had a business emergency and could not leave. Not wanting to disappoint his wife Anna and their daughters he sent them on ahead and planned to follow on another ship in a few days. Accompanying Anna Spafford were her French governess, Emma Lorriaux, several friends and several ministers.

On November 22, 1873 the steamer Ville du Havre was struck by a British iron sailing ship, the Lockhearn. The steamer Ville du Havre, with Anna Spafford and her daughters aboard, sank within twelve minutes in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Only 81 of the 307 passengers and crew members survived this tragic shipwreck.

Even though the Lockhearn was in danger of sinking the unconscious Anna Spafford was picked up from floating debris by the crew of the Lockhearn. An American cargo sailing vessel, the Trimountain, arrived in time to save the survivors of the Ville du Havre and the Lockhearn. Anna Spafford was taken to Cardiff, Wales where she telegraphed her husband Horatio. Anna's cable was brief and heartbreaking, "Saved alone. What shall I do..." Horatio and Anna's four daughters had drowned. As soon as he received Anna's telegram, Horatio left Chicago without delay to bring his wife home. Sailing across the Atlantic Ocean the captain of the ship called Horatio to the bridge. He informed Horatio that "A careful reckoning has been made and I believe we are now passing the place where the Ville du Havre was wrecked. The water is three miles deep." That night, alone in his cabin Horatio G. Spafford penned the words to his famous hymn, "It Is Well With My Soul." Horatio's faith in God never faltered. He later wrote Anna's half-sister, "On Thursday last we passed over the spot where she went down, in mid-ocean, the waters three miles deep. But I do not think of our dear ones there. They are safe, folded, the dear lambs."

Anna Spafford later spoke of being sucked violently downward. Baby Tanetta was torn from her arms by a collision with some heavy debris, with a blow so violent that Anna's arm was severely bruised. She flailed at the water trying to catch her baby. Anna caught Tanetta's gown for just a moment before another smashing blow tore the little girl out of her arms forever. Reaching out again, all she could find was a man's leg in corduroy trousers. Anna, barely conscious, was then swirled about in a whirlpool before surfacing near the Loch Earn. She instinctively clung on to a small plank and the next thing she recalled was the splash of an oar as she lay at the bottom of a small boat.

Bruised and sick, her long hair was matted with salt and her dressing gown shredded. But the pain in her body was nothing compared to the pain in her heart as she realized that her four daughters had been lost in the disaster. A young male passenger, afloat on a piece of wood, came upon Maggie and Annie, the two oldest Spafford children. At his direction, each girl grasped one of his side pockets as he tried to find a board large enough to support all three of them. After about 30 or 40 minutes in the water, he found a piece of wreckage and struggled to help the two young girls climb atop the board. But as he watched, their weary arms weakened, and he saw their eyes close. Their lifeless forms floated away from his own fatigue-paralyzed arms. No clues ever surfaced about the fate of little Bessie.

After Anna was rescued, Pastor Nathaniel Weiss, one of the ministers traveling with Anna and Horatio's group remembered hearing Anna say, "God gave me four daughters. Now they have been taken from me. Someday I will understand why." Anna was utterly devastated. Many of the survivors watched Anna closely, fearing she may try to take her life. In her grief and despair, Anna heard a soft voice speaking to her, "You were saved for a purpose!" It was then Anna remembered something a friend had once said, "It's easy to be grateful and good when you have so much, but take care that you are not a fair-weather friend to God."

Following their reunion in Europe, Horatio and Anna returned to Chicago to begin their lives again. God blessed Anna and Horatio with three children. They had a son in 1876, again called "Horatio." Not so much for his father but for their lost son. In 1878 their daughter Bertha was born. Tragically, when little Horatio reached the age of 4 just as his brother before him, he died from scarlet fever. In 1880 Anna and Horatio had another daughter they called Grace.

You know this makes me think that, even though everything in our life can be taken away from us, God is still there right beside us. And when we are in sorrows, we can say with Horatio, It is well, with my soul. Things may not always go right, but we know that God is right there beside us.

One Jar of Oil...

The woman was trying to do her best, but with these conditions she knew that she wouldn't last long. In fact this was going to be the last meal for both her and her little son. There was a famine in the land and food and drink were scarce. She only had enough oil to make one loaf of bread. And then she and her son would die, just like her husband had died.

But while she was gathering the sticks for the fire, a shadow fell over her. She looked up and lo and behold it was the prophet Elijah! What would a great man like him want with someone as poor as she? She was soon to find out...

Elijah asked if she would make a loaf and give him a cup of water, promising her if she did that the Lord would provide for her and her son. Then going into the house she poured her last flour on the table and emptied her jar of oil and made, what seemed to her, the last piece of bread, and she gave it to this man!

I'm not sure how it happened but somehow she found out that there was more flour and more oil in the containers! Oh what happiness, now she could make something for her little boy and for her as well!

The next woman was very poor she had two little boys to take care of and her husband was dead, and she owed a lot of money to someone else. She had probably sold everything she owned just to try to pay some of the debt back, but no matter how much she sold she still didn't have enough, and their food was scarce as well.

She decided to go and see the prophet Elisha and ask him for help, maybe he would give her some money or tell her what she should do. Elisha asked her if she had anything of worth in the house, no nothing much just one jar of oil she said (my paraphrase). "Go" said Elisha "to your neighbors and ask them for containers then when you have as many as you can get, go into your house with you and your boys and shut the door, and then pour the oil in the containers, you will have enough."

So going out she and her two sons asked for containers, and getting as many as they could carry they brought them home and shut the door, just like Elisha said. She and her boys laid them all over the table and floor, and then taking her one jar of oil, she started to pour it into the first container.

It filled it up, as it did the next and the next until all the containers they had were full! Talk about a miracle, not only would they have enough to pay back the debt they had enough money left over to have a good life once again!

Oil has been used for centuries. It is still a very important ingredient for many dishes such as bread and others as well. It was very valuable back in the Bible times, and could be sold for a nice chunk of money. But oil also represents the Holy Spirit in the Bible. Oil is what can keep a fire blazing hot, even if you were to pour water into the fire at the same time as you did the oil, the oil would keep it burning.

We might only have a small jar of oil, like those two women had. But if we believe and pray we can turn that one jar of oil into so much more. We can then go to our neighbors and fill their containers with our one jar, and they would all be full. The first women's oil lasted her for 3 years, until the famine in the land ended. The second one not only could pay her debt off but probably had enough over to get her life back in order and provide for her two sons.

Oil was used in the Holy Place in the sanctuary of God, to light the candlestick. The Bible says that we must be baptized with two baptism, the first one is water and the second is with the Holy Spirit. The oil to light the flame and keep us going! Even if you start out with one jar of oil you can multiply that until fills up every container!

I want the Holy Spirit to fill my jar with oil, don't you?

The Void...

I think we have all felt it at one time or another. An emptiness that can't be explained, as if nothing is going right! There comes a point in everyone's life when they feel as if their life is like a black hole. And their life becomes more and more empty, and their life seems to be getting to the point of no return.

They have a void in their life. And they can't explain that emptiness, they try to fill this emptiness with everything else. Such as the fashion of the day, clothes, music, food, parents, movies, wife's and husband's, etc. It doesn't matter, there is so many things they try to fill this void with, except for religion.

But it's not just religion, it is the love of God. This void can be filled with one thing and that thing is God and His love. And it isn't just a one time thing either, we must keep going and filling our cup to overflowing, so that the void will be filled and that we can then help to fill the void of others.

But if we leave God this void goes back to being a void, it's not a void when God's love is in it, it is only a void when God is not in our life. God made each of us with a certain amount of love, for others and for God.

Now the void can be also a pit, a pit in which we can sink in deeper and deeper. Once someone told me that they told a wandering daughter that, "You will never be happy, unless you turn your life to God, things will continue to go wrong until you turn your life back to Him."

I agree, when we have Jesus the way may not be easy, but He will guide us through, and He will see us through and we can face tough times with a happy face. It is sometimes hard, it is like mountains They have up's and down's. On the way up you are huffing and puffing and trying to catch your breath.

And sometimes you slip and fall, and then you must climb the way again, and pass the same temptations again until you have victory over it. But once you reach the top, the sight is breathtaking and you forget all about the pain that you have faced.

I have experienced this void, and sometimes I still experience it. I am still climbing that mountain, I have not reached the top yet, but that is my goal to reach the top! It is my desire to be with Jesus and have the love of God fill my void to overflowing so that I can pour it out on others.

I want God to fill my void, don't you? Meet me at the top!

Mission Assignment: Rescue

A few years back, my family and I read a story about how this family rescued these abused horses and rehabilitated them back to health and then trained them to ride, etc. I don't even remember how the story goes, but I do know a little bit of what goes into the training of these horses, not from experience, but from reading. :)

Just like it takes a special people to be able to adopt a child, it takes special people to rescue and rehabilitate these animals, it also takes time. First you most likely have to nurse it back to health, and then you must win the trust of this animal. Slowly and patiently winning the trust of this huge animal can be hard sometimes.

It could take weeks at a time to just heal the poor thing, and then weeks to win its trust. After you win the trust of these animals you must slowly teach it new things, what not to be afraid of, how to handle a rider and other things like that, which could probably take several more weeks. Sounds like a lot of hard work, doesn't it?

And yet as I think about it, those same steps that they must go through, Jesus must go through with us. He first takes us out of sin and has to begin to heal our wounds. He then has to draw us close to Him, getting our trust so completely in Him that we leave self behind. And then He must teach us new things to do, new talents we never even knew we had. And sometimes it takes years and years for God to just get us out of sin, or abuse. And it takes a lifetime to learn all the lessons He has to teach us.

So we must be like Jesus, after He saves us from our sins, and teaches us enough for us to share with others, we must go and tell those others how to get out of sin. But sometimes it will take years of patient work and of course prayer, and then when we get them out of sin, we must help them with the healing process. And then once we lead them to Jesus He will teach them how to use new talents.

It is like a circle that never stops. It continues on and on. There are so many wonderful object lessons involved in everyday life, that we don't even see. I bet we could find an object lesson at everything that God has made and everything He has put in our pathway.

So God has given us a mission assignment to do, and that is simply to rescue and to rehabilitate those that are abused by sin. We don't have to know everything, but we do need to know Jesus and pray that Jesus gives us the love in our hearts that He has toward us and them. It may not be easy, and we may be tempted to quite and give up. But Jesus will see us through if we go to Him in prayer.

You never know, if it wasn't for you, that person might not have ever known about God. They never would have been set free from the abuse of sin. And they would never be able to enjoy heaven with you. The circle starts with the healing of you, don't let it stop at you, let it continue to go around until the whole world knows about Jesus and He comes back to save us and take us home to heaven!

I want to except this mission assignment called rescue, don't you?

Courage...

Would I have what it takes to stand up for God under all circumstances? Would I have what it takes to have enough confidence to go through what Daniel, Joseph, Joshua, Esther, and Paul went through? What exactly defines courage anyway? How do I know I have it?

There are so many people in the Bible that had courage in the most difficult situations. And yet I wonder, if I were to be put in the same situation would I have reacted the same way, or would I have acted differently. I want to say yes to all those circumstances, but when put to the test, would I be able to.

Honestly, I don't think any of us would have what it would take to have that much courage...we couldn't face anything on our own. Neither could any of the people back in the Bible times, they had to depend on something, and that something can only be one thing, and that's God.

When I think about being put to the test, sometimes it scares me to think that I might not make it. But that is when Jesus brings to my mind, that without Him I could do nothing, the only thing that I can do is lean on Him!

Courage, the very word sounds exciting, like your about to preform some heroic act. But sometimes you have fear mixed with courage. Sometimes, for some people, it takes courage to live day by day in their own house.

The Lord told Joshua many times, to not be afraid and to be of good courage. If He had to tell Joshua that so many times, what about us? Being courageous doesn't mean that you don't have fear, but to, with God's strength, face that fear.

How do I know that I have courage? I don't, but I can know that God is on my side! God tells us that when we join with Him, He will give us the courage that we need! On Him I can count on, and I don't have to worry about the situations that I might be found in, because when the situation arises Jesus will give me the courage I need, and then I can sing the walls of the enemy down, and face a king that might kill me.

Worry isn't very good for your health anyway, it causes you to be worried about unnecessary things. But yet in some cases we still worry, instead of giving the worry to God, especially mothers. Which there does tend to be a lot of worries. But if we put everything and everyone we know in His hands, well I would have to say, there is no better place for them to be!

I want to have courage, but sometimes it is so hard to place my trust completely in God. It is hard, and sometimes it doesn't always come to mind to pray. But I believe if I or anyone of us would start to pray as soon as we start to worry, God would help us with our effort, and the more we learn to trust Him the less we will worry.

I want to have courage, don't you? I want to pray for more courage, will you join me? It could be dangerous, because God usually places us in situations that will call us to place our worry or fear in His hands, but I think it will be worth it, don't you?