On my first night to class this semester I saw Isaiah 43 on a license plate. I had to check it out…so here is what I found.
Anyone ever called you something other than you name? I have spent my entire life either being called “Lisa” (my mom’s name) or having my name misspelled. And who in Alabama can pronounce Salcedo? But, there is one who I know will always remember my name. That is… My Heavenly Father!
Isaiah 43:1b says “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.”
Praise the Lord that I am His! I should never suffer an identity crisis as long as I have this verse to lean on.
Now look at verse 2, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.
WOW, what a promise. Notice that He does not say that we will not face storms, or fire; but promises only that He will be with us through them all and NOT allow these things to overcome us. His promise is to protect us through it all!
Please read vs 3-17 as well. They have a lots to say about how God views His children; even when they disobey.
What really caught my eye was in verses 18 and 19. “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.”
I have said this before, but I BELIEVE that God placed this verse in the Bible just for me and my family Right Now! It was exactly what I needed. A verse to pray and hold on to and we enter this new part of our lives.
I BELIEVE that soon and very soon, I will be able to remember not the things of the past ten months. Oh, Father let me never forget the lessons You have taught me during this time, but I can do without the fatigue, worry, sadness, and all the other feelings involved with watching Carys fight.I am looking forward to the “New Thing” He is planning! What a mighty God we serve. One thing we have learned is that you NEVER know what God is going to do because no man can understand His ways. BUT…whatever He plans it IS GOOD
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Touched By God
I believe that God looks for chances to have direct interaction with His children. If you go back to the Garden of Eden, He came down and walked with Adam and "woman" (as Carys says!) I think He still wants for us to "walk" with Him everyday.
A year or so ago I was teaching by Bible class at CCA from Acts 1 about the day of Pentacost. I had to do a lot of studying to understand what I believed (and what God's truth was) about the Holy Spirit in MY life before I could share with the students. I read, studied and learned that The Holy Spirit is God's gift of ever-present comfort and direction to His children. After salvation, He (the Holy Spirit) is always there. He NEVER leaves us. However, I also believe that in God's design for us as Free Will beings, we must ALLOW the Holy Spirit to be at work in us.
I think we make a choice to accept the peace, comfort and guidence He brings.
Anyway, things have been very tough in a lot of areas for our family over the past 10 months (since Carys's diagnosis.) Although I have felt closer to God though this ordeal, there were times when I just sat and thought "why" and "how"
I know He was trying to teach me LOTS of things though this. As someone who likes (OK loves) to learn I would like to believe that I can take away from this all He wanted me to know; and - pass the tests He has for me later. So, when issues come my way, or He puts me in a position to help others, I will know His will beacuse I have lived it!
Justin always tells me that worry is a selfish thing; something we do rather than giving EVERYTHING up to God.
Money has been tight; to say the least. I have been off taking care of Carys and Sawyer and Justin missed a lot of work to make appointment. Everyone has been so great to help. Money has always been there when we needed it no matter how much we needed or when we needed; God used all of you to keep everything going for us.
Our "miracle" begins in January 2007. I decided, for no apparent reason, to purchace a cancer insurance policy offer to me at CCA. Turns out, the "no apparent reason" was in my mind that I was serving God at CCA and He was working in my life to provide things for us I could not understand at that time. 9 months later, Carys was diagnosed. No matter who I talk to, they tell me the policy I have pays more that any other cancer policy they have ever heard of. Can you say GOD!!!!
The second part of the miracle happened yesterday (8/21/08). Things had become really tight. We had not received an insurence check in a while due to a delay in getting the paperwork from the hospital (that envolves another blog I will entitle - selfcontrol!) Anyways... I sent the paperwork about 2 months ago and they denyed it all. I worried! This had been our life line so far. Again, I have to deal with the hospital billing department (not fun) and re-send the papers last week. It generally takes 14 days for a claim to be processed. So, I have been calling the past few days to see how far along the claim was. The phone messgae said that thier offices were closed due to the hurricane!
Great, I thought! With the first of the month comming up (bills) what am I going to do?!? I did not sleep for 3 nights; worring, selfishly!
I decided that this was beyond my control. The moment I gave it up to God (yesterday morning) I felt relief. Justin called me and asked me what we were going to do. I said, I do not know by that is God's issue to handle. We had not done anything wrong like spend too much, it just was not there. The Bible says He waters the lillies and feeds the sparows, how much more does He care for us!
So yesterday was my FIRST worry free day in a while. When I was telling Justin on the phone that I was giving it up to God I felt the "might rushing wind" mentioned in Acts 1 at Pentacost. Call it what you want, but I KNOW that I had allowed the Holy Spirit, already living inside me, to take hold and give me the comfort and rest I needed!
Then the really amazing thing happend when I got home. There was a check in the mail!!! How could they got it done so fast, and with the hurricane. I have a theory. This is ONLY a theory but I think I speaks to how BIG and GOOD God is!!!
I think... in God's foreknolwdge, He KNEW right where I would be and what I would need. SO, he caused a hurricane to come causing the insurance office to speed up their claims before the hurricane struck causing me to get WHAT I needed, WHEN I needed it! What do you think??
A year or so ago I was teaching by Bible class at CCA from Acts 1 about the day of Pentacost. I had to do a lot of studying to understand what I believed (and what God's truth was) about the Holy Spirit in MY life before I could share with the students. I read, studied and learned that The Holy Spirit is God's gift of ever-present comfort and direction to His children. After salvation, He (the Holy Spirit) is always there. He NEVER leaves us. However, I also believe that in God's design for us as Free Will beings, we must ALLOW the Holy Spirit to be at work in us.
I think we make a choice to accept the peace, comfort and guidence He brings.
Anyway, things have been very tough in a lot of areas for our family over the past 10 months (since Carys's diagnosis.) Although I have felt closer to God though this ordeal, there were times when I just sat and thought "why" and "how"
I know He was trying to teach me LOTS of things though this. As someone who likes (OK loves) to learn I would like to believe that I can take away from this all He wanted me to know; and - pass the tests He has for me later. So, when issues come my way, or He puts me in a position to help others, I will know His will beacuse I have lived it!
Justin always tells me that worry is a selfish thing; something we do rather than giving EVERYTHING up to God.
Money has been tight; to say the least. I have been off taking care of Carys and Sawyer and Justin missed a lot of work to make appointment. Everyone has been so great to help. Money has always been there when we needed it no matter how much we needed or when we needed; God used all of you to keep everything going for us.
Our "miracle" begins in January 2007. I decided, for no apparent reason, to purchace a cancer insurance policy offer to me at CCA. Turns out, the "no apparent reason" was in my mind that I was serving God at CCA and He was working in my life to provide things for us I could not understand at that time. 9 months later, Carys was diagnosed. No matter who I talk to, they tell me the policy I have pays more that any other cancer policy they have ever heard of. Can you say GOD!!!!
The second part of the miracle happened yesterday (8/21/08). Things had become really tight. We had not received an insurence check in a while due to a delay in getting the paperwork from the hospital (that envolves another blog I will entitle - selfcontrol!) Anyways... I sent the paperwork about 2 months ago and they denyed it all. I worried! This had been our life line so far. Again, I have to deal with the hospital billing department (not fun) and re-send the papers last week. It generally takes 14 days for a claim to be processed. So, I have been calling the past few days to see how far along the claim was. The phone messgae said that thier offices were closed due to the hurricane!
Great, I thought! With the first of the month comming up (bills) what am I going to do?!? I did not sleep for 3 nights; worring, selfishly!
I decided that this was beyond my control. The moment I gave it up to God (yesterday morning) I felt relief. Justin called me and asked me what we were going to do. I said, I do not know by that is God's issue to handle. We had not done anything wrong like spend too much, it just was not there. The Bible says He waters the lillies and feeds the sparows, how much more does He care for us!
So yesterday was my FIRST worry free day in a while. When I was telling Justin on the phone that I was giving it up to God I felt the "might rushing wind" mentioned in Acts 1 at Pentacost. Call it what you want, but I KNOW that I had allowed the Holy Spirit, already living inside me, to take hold and give me the comfort and rest I needed!
Then the really amazing thing happend when I got home. There was a check in the mail!!! How could they got it done so fast, and with the hurricane. I have a theory. This is ONLY a theory but I think I speaks to how BIG and GOOD God is!!!
I think... in God's foreknolwdge, He KNEW right where I would be and what I would need. SO, he caused a hurricane to come causing the insurance office to speed up their claims before the hurricane struck causing me to get WHAT I needed, WHEN I needed it! What do you think??
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