Trust

The Lord has been doing some major changes in our lives, teaching us some deep lessons that I would like to share. Up until June the Lord had been teaching us to trust Him in a very simple way. The bills would come in, they would be paid. He always brought the work in time. Always. Sometimes the very day something was due we would have no way of knowing how to pay it but always before the day was over the money was there to cover it. I finally came to the place of just trusting Him, if an anxious thought arose it quickly was sent away by the realization that God always provided for us. Always. Then June rolled around. We sent out our monthly checks like before and one after the other they were returned because of “Insufficient funds”. No work, no reprieve, nothing. I was totally shocked. How could God allow us to arrive at that kind of trust and then BOOM, drop the bottom out from under us? Had we sinned? Was it a test (for what)? Why??? We waited and struggled to find enough work to put food on the table as well as pay some of the bills and the multiple fees associated with an overdrawn bank account. July, same story. It did not make sense to me, I know God does all things well, but this just did not add up.  The Lord revealed to me that I had become angry with God. That sobered me greatly and made me fall on my face before Him, begging for some sort of understanding, pleading for peace. I went to my husband for help, asking him “why?” his answer was so simple, yet so profound. “Even when we don’t understand, we need to trust the Lord. It is not always going to be easy to trust Him like it has been but we should trust Him even in the hard times. Whenever doubt comes in, take it to the Lord right away.” So I began to pray about that, especially “even in the hard times”. Then the Lord reminded me of Job. WOW! God allowed everything to be taken from Job, even his children, and it was still for God’s glory. Job basically answered the same way I did…paraphrasing... “Why, what have I done? I am innocent.” Yet Elihu rebuked him and his rebuke now stung me as well….

“Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man. Why doest thou strive against him? For he giveth not account of any of his matters.” (Job 33:12) and in 34:5. “For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment.” V. 10 “…far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.” V.23. “For he will not lay on man more than right; that he should enter into judgment with God.” V.29. “When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? And when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? Whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:” vs. 31-32. “Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more: That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.”

The Lord is bringing us into a new level of trust. Up until now we trusted that He would provide. Now He wants us to trust Him even if He does not provide. Is our faith conditional? Will we only praise Him when things go our way? Or will we still trust and praise Him when it seems like everything is falling apart and we are faced with losing everything? Our dear Lord Jesus Christ has a plan and purpose in all things that He does and in what He allows to happen. Romans 8:28 says “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Does that mean that everything will go the way we want it to? No. All things work for our good, even what seems “bad” works for our good. God is bringing glory to His name and He has many ways of doing that. If teaching us to praise Him even in the hard times will bring Him more glory, than I rejoice and am very thankful for this deep lesson He is teaching us! Growth is painful, but oh how blessed we are that He is willing to allow us to go through painful times that we can grow through it. Praise Him! Praise our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!! He is worthy of all praise and honor! Sing to Him, offer a sacrifice of praise, He is worthy! (Hebrews 13:15)

Life!

So much for me posting more often :) Life gets busy and training even one little girl is a great task and responsibility from our Heavenly Father. So the blog can wait...even the dishes can wait if need be, except for the fact that they are part of the training. :) Grace now can stand on a chair beside me and "help" do the dishes, cook, bake, clean. Whatever I am doing I try to include her. It is not always easy and I am by no means doing so all the time or even as much as I would like to, but it really amazes me how much the Lord keeps reminding me..."why are you doing this by yourself?" It also is a great encouragement to see how happy she is when working along side me, she is just bubbling with excitement over being included in real life! Oh how we pray for her that she will come to love and serve our Lord Jesus Christ at an early age, that He would save her and bring much glory to His worthy name through her life! We also pray this for our dear little one who is now due in less than a week!

I have been "nesting" for several weeks now, changing things around in our home with my husbands help....I should rephrase that... Patrick changes things around while I point where I would like them to go. :) He is so wonderful and uncomplaining about my sudden ideas, and usually refines them to a better way of managing our space, or comes up with his own. I am truly blessed to be married to such a great man! We are so excited as we wait to meet our little boy or girl, though I am somewhat nervous about the labor since Grace's was so long. Yet I know the Lord will give me the strength for whatever He allows, I just cannot dwell on it too much, just trust in Him who does all things well.

Grace loves babies! Every morning she has to greet her three baby dolls with squeals of delight and exclamations of "baby! baby!" She cares for them so lovingly, rocking, singing and changing them. We really look forward to how she will be with her little brother or sister, it will be such fun to watch! I have to run, but here are a few random pictures.....

Wedding

Wow, it has been a long time since I have updated my blog! It seems hard to believe that Patrick and I have been married for almost six months now! We are joyfully looking forward to the arrival of our little one who is due March 10^th! I am guessing that I have lost most of my readers, but I will go ahead and write a few posts to update everyone on what our life has been like up to this point. The Lord has greatly blessed me with a wonderful, godly young man as my husband. I never imagined that such a sweet and kind, compassionate man even existed, much less that I would be his privileged help meet. I am so very thankful to the Lord for teaching me to wait for the right man, the man for whom I was created. I cannot describe the joy it is to serve the Lord by serving my husband! Yes, there are difficult times and yes, we must deny our selves, but what a wonderful thing it is to know that God is using it to conform us more into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

We were married May 29^th 2010 in a beautiful outdoors setting in Ohio. The Lord blessed us with many people who poured themselves into helping set up, prepare the food and numberless other things. One friend made all of my bouquets (except for the bridal as that was real). Friends and family traveled from all over to bless us with their presence, it was a joyful time of celebration of what the Lord has done. Our ceremony was different than the traditional since we wanted it to be a symbol of that great day when Christ will come for His bride. We asked our preacher, Cal, to preach the gospel clearly and to explain to everyone gathered why we did things the way we did. The processional of Bridesmaids/Groomsmen Ring bearers and Flower girls walked to the tune “I Come to The Garden” .  Then, before Patrick made his appearance, both my parents walked me down to the tune of “Be Thou My Vision” , my Dad removed my veil and my Mom and I sang “Be Thou My Vision”. Then the bagpipes started up and everyone turned to a balcony from which Patrick and both his parents descended. Our parents greeted one another, then all but my Father stepped away. We stood on either side of him and he held our hands as he spoke some words of wisdom to us and told everyone how thankful he was to be entrusting his daughter to this man. Then he placed our hands together, the first time we had ever held hands, oh what joy!!! Cal then preached and we said our vows which we had written ourselves, exchanged rings, then gave to each other our first kiss. What a blessing it was to have saved that for my husband and to know that he saved his for me! 

 After pictures we had a time of fellowship, visiting and eating. We were so blessed by the people who came to show us their love. The Lord is good!!!

Here are some pictures: 

 

My Patrick :)

 What a joy to be his bride!

 Patrick and his parents

 My dear Momma and I

My dear Daddy and I

 My flower girls and I

 The girls :)

 The guys :)

Kristofer my nephew was also a ring bearer, but was unable to make it to the pictures.

 Bride and parents

 Groom and parents

 Family greetings

 Holding hands for the first time!!!

 Exchanging rings

 First kiss!!!!

Mr. and Mrs.! 

Bubbles!

 

Cutting the beautiful cake that my new mother-in-love made

 

 The wedding party with parents

Happily married!

Praise God For His Wonderful Works!

I am amazed at the way God has used the incident that happened on Tuesday the 24, for His glory! The story has travelled across the nation and even over the world. Already I have done two radio interviews and a paper interview, as well as responding to multiple e-mails. This has really surprised me since the incident is not an isolated occurrence, other sidewalk councilors are attacked weekly and the news does not cover it. One man told me what had attracted him to the story, and I think this is probably the reason for all the attention. He said, "It is the fact that God gave you such peace in the moment of need, that is so amazing." Praise God! So it is God's working that causes people to cry when they read what happened, it is God's ability and power to give a weak girl peace in the face of death, and God's protection over His people. In this I rejoice, that the name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is being glorified and lifted up through this whole thing! He is worthy of ALL praise! I have been greatly reminded of the fact that my life is NOT about me. It is about my God, I am His, and all I am, have and do are His. If He chooses to use me, I rejoice and glory in Christ my Savior.

I am not great at speaking so when it came time to do the radio interviews I prayed and prayed, and others (especially my dear Mother) prayed as well. Asking the Lord to speak through me, clearly and to His glory. He did it! He really did! My prayer is that people will see how beautiful my Lord Jesus is, and how worthy of praise. That they who heard/hear will tremble before God and give glory to Him. That many will be turned unto the Lord and be saved. As the second interview approached, I was sick with a bad cold and without a voice. But when it came time to talk, my voice was there! Praise be to God!

Recently we heard from relatives of Michelle's (the attacker), I will let this note speak for itself, it is addressed to my Mom:

Sarah,
Thank you so much for your blog. I am a relative of Mechelle and live in Minneapolis. I, too, am a pro-lifer. In response to my convictions I have in the past housed pregnant women who had no place to live. I have never been outside an abortion clinic as I had believed that it was pushing it too far in a negative manner. This incident has changed my mind. Although things did not go as smoothly as normal for you, you were at the place God wanted you to be. My brother visited her the other day and said “I believe the protester was an angel sent by God to save the life of the baby”. That is just what happened. Since the incident, she has decided against abortion. I wanted to thank you for the work you are doing. Keep praying for Mechelle that she would return to Jesus.

Lori

Did you read that? Michelle decided NOT to kill her baby! Praise God! And this relative of Michelle's now sees the value in pleading with women at the gates of hell as a last voice of reason that they will hear before going in. Praise God again and again! As she said, please keep praying for Michelle that she will be saved. For legal reasons we have not been able to visit with her, but pray that we may be able to do so some day.

But God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14)

If any man speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man ministers, let him do it as of the ability which God gives: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to test you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, since you are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you; for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. (1 Peter 4:11-14)

To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. (Romans 16:27)

A hairbreadth away from Glory?

Yesterday morning my Mom and I, were at the Building For Women in Duluth MN, to plead for the lives of unborn babies (sidewalk counsel) with Jim Tuttle of Pro-Life Ministries of Duluth. I saw a lady walking toward the building, who I figured must be a client. Before I could talk to her or approach her with literature, she snapped open a knife. She waved the point at me saying, "Don't come near me!" I stayed where I was and said, "Please don't kill your baby, fear God." She walked past into the courtyard, so I moved to the fence corner to continue counseling. She then turned around, came up to me and held the point of the knife at my throat! The thought flashed through my mind, "What if she stabs me?" and then, "That's ok." God gave me great peace as I looked into her angry eyes and said, "Fear God. You need to fear God Ma'am." She turned around, and began to walk through the court yard again. My Mom, Sarah, who was standing at the other end of the fence, called out to her, "We love you, and care about you, don't kill your baby." The women turned and waved the knife at her yelling, "I'm certified crazy, that's why I'm doing this!" She then went into the building.

Jim Tuttle called the police and they arrived very quickly, seven squad cars strong. Several went immediately into the building, and shortly came out with the women in handcuffs, she was crying. They interviewed us, had us write reports, and told us that this is a felony offence. My Mom told two of the officers that we feel very sad for the women who did this, and we will be praying for her. One of the officers looked shocked at that.

A local TV newsman showed up and interviewed us. We were able to give glory to God for His protection and testify that God says, "You shall not murder." I explained that we are living in a culture of death, and if they believe it is fine to kill babies in the womb, what would be the difference killing someone out of the womb? He wanted to know if this would change my mind about coming out to talk to the abortion clients. I said "No, not at all! I am excited that God protected me." My Mom told him that we care about the women who did this, forgive her, and want her to know that if she came to Jesus Christ and was saved, God would completely change her.

God allowed this all to happen for a reason, and I greatly desire that His name be glorified through this incident. Our God is worthy to be praised! Psalm 91 was going through my head... "He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust." (Psalms 91:1-2) Praise God for His mercy, not only on me for protection, but also in the fact that this lady still has her baby!

As the police were leaving, a young women ran into the building very quickly. After a few minutes she came out onto the sidewalk, and seemed to be waiting for someone. My Mom talked to her, and she turned out to be the friend of the women who had just been arrested. Not knowing what had just happened, she had come to support her friend, but was told that her friend had left the building quickly. They didn't even tell her why or in what state she had left! So we were able to minister to this women, her name is, Melissa and her friend, who had been arrested is Michelle. My Mom shared the gospel with her, gave her a Bible, and asked if we could visit Michelle in jail. She agreed that it might be possible.

Please pray for these two women. I do forgive Michelle, and pray that she will be saved, she needs Jesus. Only God knows what He will do with this situation, we pray that He will be glorified!


EDITED to add:

Here are some news articles covering the incident:

LifeSiteNews: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/nov/09112603.html

WorldNetDaily: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=117119

LifeNews: http://www.lifenews.com/state4602.html

NorthlandNews: http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/72989782.html

A trip, and Where are God's People?

It has been far too long since I have written on here! I have been very busy canning garden produce. We had a hard frost several weeks ago which sent us scrambling to bring in all the green tomatoes before it hit. With my Dad and brother's help, we managed to pull all the plants and box up the green fruit. Now they are ripening, so I have been canning almost every day. We are also making and canning applesauce, chutney, various jellies, and ketchup.

Two weeks ago my Grandma who lives with us, had a mini stroke. Thankfully it did not do too much damage, but she needs to have an operation on her carotid arteries soon. Wednesday last week, my brother and I took her down to IL. to visit family and attend a cousin's wedding. We were able to see our Uncle & Aunt from WA, who we have not seen in a long time. It was a great time.

The bride and groom! Josh & Cathy

My cousin Danielle and I

We also visited with our brother Dan, sister-in-love Basia, and their two boys, Kristofer and Noah.

Hanging out with Kristofer

Cutie!

We had a little extra bit of time on Friday, so we drove down to an abortion mill in Chicago, and did some sidewalk counciling. It was a late term killing center...we saw mothers great with child going in there to kill their little ones. . . . . Soon after we arrived, one young woman came out crying. My brother asked if she had changed her mind, and she affirmed that she had. Praise God! There were no other sidewalk councilors out there when we arrived, no one obeying Proverbs 24:11-12, just some catholics praying their repetitious prayers. Where are God's people? What are you doing?
This is a gospel outreach, not just a humanitarian effort. God commands, who will obey?

Pleading for souls, and lives.

Michael and I came back on Saturday, my Grandma stayed down there for a few more days. One of my Aunts is bringing her back up here today. The surgeon thinks that it will be safe to wait a few weeks to have the surgery...I hope he is right since there is danger of her having a major stroke that would leave her paralyzed. Please pray that that won't happen!

God really impressed upon me how much He protects us. Driving around the Chicago suburbs for four days, made me realize that ANYthing can happen, it is only God who keeps and protects us. We do the best we can, drive the best we can, but ultimately God keeps us safe. If anything does happen, it is because He has allowed it, and it is for our best.

Keep seeking God with all your heart, and praise our Lord Jesus Christ always!

A Heavenly Vision

I am excited. God has given me a vision for this life. Even as a child I had a vision of wanting to serve the Lord, but He keeps expanding it. It certainly cannot be communicated through words, He has to give it, but at least I may provoke some to ask for it.

This life on earth is but for a moment, it is passing away very quickly. In heaven we have an eternal home in the presence of God..... By the way, are you ready to be in the presence of God for eternity? If you are uncomfortable in His presence now, what about then? We had better learn to love His presence now, we will be with Him forever and ever!..... There is no sun in Heaven, because the Lamb is the light of that city. It is a glorious place, just read Revelation and see how wonderful it is. Then look back at this earth and all our material possessions which are all going to be burned up. Weigh these things in the balances. Can the earthly even come close to comparing with the value of the eternal? Do you even have to consider which is greater in value?

Jesus said; "...The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; which when a man has found, he hides, and for joy thereof goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field." (Matthew 13:44)

He does not even have to stop and think, is it worth it? That would be a ridiculous question. Yet day after day we cling to this earth. Heaven is security for the future, but for now this life is what life is about. We cling to material possessions, to jobs, to earthly comfort, security and pleasure. We cling to our families, and our own bodies which are passing away.

Remember the "muck raker" in Pilgrims Progress? Though an angel held a crown of gold above his head for him to receive celestial glories, he would not look up from the muck of this life. Though a pool had been set where he could look in to see the glories above him, he avoided the pool because it also would show him what he was.

Are we also so caught up in the affairs of this life that we do not see beyond to the heavenly vision?

This life is NOT the end in it's self, it is the means to an end. Whatever I do only has lasting value and meaning if it enables me to further the Kingdom of God. This is a Kingdom vision. Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." He was not talking just to missionaries, to those who feel a "calling" to go, He was, He is, talking to all of us who are His people.

We are not called to work so that we can eat, so that we can live, to work, to eat, to live, to work...no, that is an endless loop with no eternal value. We have a higher calling, of lasting value.

Jesus said: "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing?" (Matthew 6:25)

Yes, it is. This life is not about us, it is not about me, it is about God and His glory.

Jesus said: "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, How shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek you first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:31-33)

The ungodly see only this world and live for it, but we are called to see the kingdom of God and live for Him. We need to catch hold of His vision, ask God for it. We need God's prospective on everything that we do. We must look at this life through the eyes of faith, seeing beyond the physical, confessing that we are strangers and pilgrims here on earth. We seek a better country.

We need to ask ourselves, By doing this, am I furthering the Kingdom of God, or is this thing an end in it's self? If it is not enabling us to further the Kingdom of God, it is not worth doing.

I hope to someday marry a man who has this kingdom vision. A man who's work is only a means to enable him and his family to preach the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 4:23, 9:35, 24:14, Mark 1:14). A man who has a vision of his wife and children working hand in hand with him to further the kingdom of God. A man like this: "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." (Genesis 18:19) A man who's children desire to follow in his footsteps because he is following Jesus. A man with a heavenly vision is the man I want to follow, a man who looks to Jesus.

If everything is about God and His glory, no wonder we are told, "Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might." (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

"And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." (Colossians 3:23)

Oh, I am so excited!

OSA 2009, July 19, Sunday

If you have not already read the introduction to this mission trip report please read it, Here.
Read Day 1
Read Day 2
Read Day 3
Read Day 4

Me, Flip Benham and Michael

Sunday morning we were able to sleep for thirty extra minutes! Part of the fun of being with Operation Save America is lack of sleep. :-) We moved our morning rally to the shade of one of the hotel buildings. From there we divided into three teams, one team to go to Freemont street, one team to go out in front of a Homosexual "church" in order to witness to them, and our team to go out in front of a large Evangelical church. It is a mega church which claims an attendance of 1500 people. They do good for their community, feeding the homeless and such, but they were completely ignoring the fact that there are six abortion mills in the city of Las Vegas.


We went out there to say, "we are repenting, we ask you to repent with us." We had a banner that said "Church, Help Us Save Them", and we passed out a tract called "Sing a Little Louder". It is the story of a church in Germany during WWII that sat close to some train tracks, every time a train went by carrying Jews, the people of the church would sing louder so they could drown out the screams coming from those train cars. The question is, Will you sing a little louder to drown out the screams of little boys and girls being ripped to pieces in their mother's womb? Or will you DO something about it?

It was a very hot, dry morning, and they had three services, so we were out there a long time. Some of our people went into the church for one of the services to see what it was like. The pastor told his congregation that the people out there were not invited, the police had been called and anyone trespassing on church property would be taken care of. He also told them not to stop and talk to those people because it would hold up traffic, and that's what they want. !! A few did take literature, and a few actually asked why we were there. A few cursed at us, two men tried to take the sign from one of our twelve year old girls. Most ignored us. It was very sad.

This was my, and I think all, of our least favorite things to do. It is not fun. It hits close to home, since you think, "what if some one did this at my church, how would I respond?" One man responded in the way that I hope all of us would respond. He talked to us, then came to the 6pm rally to see if we were real, then he joined us. He got together a cell group of people in his church who had been awakened to this life and death issue, by our presence. They are discussing what they can DO. Praise God!

For the rest of the day on Sunday we visited with our friends, and later in the afternoon the Yoders' organized a hymn sing. Down by the hotel's pool was a nice room for gatherings and such, so we set chairs around, invited all the OSA people we could find and sang hymns for a while. It was a real blessing and a special time.

At the 6 pm rally, Flip Benham preached a powerful sermon on abortion and the spiritual effects it has on a woman. Also, there was a woman who came up to the front to show us her baby and share her story. Pam, who is holding the baby, has a life care center in her travel trailer and one day received a call from this very distressed woman. She had just taken the chemical abortion pill RU-486, and then realized what she was doing and wanted to keep her baby. Pam was able to direct her to a doctor who did something (I'm not sure what) to keep the baby, and now she has a beautiful little girl. Praise God!


Deliver those that are drawn toward death, hold back those that are stumbling to the slaughter; If you say, Behold, we knew it not; does not he that weighs the heart consider it? and he that keeps your soul, does not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works? (Proverbs 24:11-12)

A report on day six coming soon...

Day 6
Day 7 and 8