WILL GOD DWELL WITH MEN ON EARTH ?

Photo provided by Kassidy Mitchell

But will God in very deed dwell with 

men on the earth? behold, heaven 

and the heaven of heavens cannot 

contain thee; how much less this 

house which I have built!

II Chronicles 6:18

IN THE VALLEY WE LEARN TO WALK WITH GOD, IN THE TRENCHES WE LEARN TO FALL IN HIS ARMS

Photo by Lisa Long 

Last week I missed a few days blogging due to being at the hospital with my daughter, Lisa Long. 

Each time I receive a phone call that she has been admitted into the hospital my heart sinks as I fully understand the realm of what this could mean.  

Since she is a grown woman I try very hard not to be the smothering mom but it becomes a bit more difficult when she is in great pain and the doctors and nurses can't seem to get things under control. 

All went well and in a few short days she was released from the hospital and working from home. But each time this mothers heart sinks hoping and praying she is able to overcome the obstacles of the medical conditions she is experiencing.  

In 2007 Lisa returned home from college and was an extremely ill lady.  Her life was soon to change forever.  She underwent six major surgeries in one year.  The day came when I heard the surgeon say, "We have one more chance and if things don't go well then we will just have to deal with things the way they are".  We knew what those words meant because her body was already trying to reject her liver also and knew she would only get weaker and things would only get more out of control. 

Not the words a mother wants to hear.

As the surgeon began to schedule her last surgery my heart began to cry out to God to find a way to deliver her from this horrible life she was having to live.  Surely God there is another way.  Surely God somewhere out there in this vast world someone could help her.   

It was in the mountains I had learned to enjoy the abundant life he gave, the joys of my three natural born children and the two we had legal custody of and my husband. Those mountain top times were great and I learned much during those times. 

It was in the valleys that I had learned to walk with God and learned to grow and become deeper in my relationship with him. 

It was in the trenches when my body had taken all, I had given my all, and life was at the point that I couldn't see past the traumas in life that I learned to rest in the arms of my Savior.  It's those times we have to let go and let God take control. We become so burdened and worn down from the struggles in life that we have no idea how to make decisions that the Lord says, 'I am the God of the day, I am the God of the night, I am the God of the good and I am the God of the bad and I am the God of this situation".

I remember praying and asking the Lord to please lead me and guide me as I search for a surgeon for my precious child who was having an extremely difficult time cooping with life and knowing this was her last chance I wanted to know it was a doctor God selected instead of one I selected.   

Dr. Phillip J Huber somehow came up when I was searching and not understanding why I chose this doctor, I packed Lisa up and headed to Dallas and meet with Dr Huber to see what the future lay ahead.   

Dr Huber examined her and looked over her records and then met with me and showed me how he could reconstruct the J Pouch that had previously been constructed by her previous doctor. 

We had to take the chance and I am so thankful that we did.  It took a minor surgery and a major surgery and we were definitely in the hands of a man that God had paved a way for us to see.  We instantly started seeing changes in her and soon she was back on her feet only to go to a dance and tear a acl and meniscus in her leg and had to have another surgery.  But this surgery was so minor and seemed so insignificant after all she had previously faced.   

Her liver began to heal back and soon she was off to college once again living a normal life. 

  

In all the whole universe the Lord had guided me to the very doctor that could do what we had no idea even existed, so in the trenches of life I learned to fall into His arms and he covered us with his feathers, and under his wings we learn to trust that He is God of the day, the God of the night, the God of the good and he was even the God of the bad.   

He shall cover thee with his feathers, 

and under his wings shalt thou trust: 

his truth shall be thy shield and 

buckler.

Psalm 91:4

TO KNOW THE LOVE OF GOD

Photo provided by Kay Rowe 

May be able to comprehend with all saints

 what is the breadth, and length, and

depth, and height;  and to know the

Love of Christ, which passeth

knowledge, that ye might be

filled with all the fulness

of God.

Ephesians 3:18-19

FAITHFUL IN THE LAND OF AFFLICTION

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“God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction." (Genesis 41.52)


As a young man, Joseph always did his best to please and obey his father. Because he was the son of his father’s old age, the son of Rachel, and because of his compliant ways, he was rewarded. His father, Jacob, gave him a special coat. Though he was only a teenager, this designated him as the man in charge of all his father’s house, including all of his older brothers – all ten of them. None of the others seemed to qualify in Jacob’s eyes.

This special treatment of Joseph may have caused Joseph more bother than blessing. When I say “bother,” I mean serious trouble.

The older brothers, bent on doing wrong, saw Joseph as a threat and were jealous of his elevation. When the opportunity arose, they stripped him of his coat, threw him into a pit and then sold him into slavery. They soaked the coat in the blood of a baby goat and took it back to their father. “There,” they thought, “we are rid of him for good.”

Jacob, thinking he was dead, was inconsolable.

The slave traders took Joseph into Egypt and sold him to the King’s (Pharaoh) Captain of the Guard, a wealthy man of authority.

Joseph was a wise, excellent and trustworthy servant. Soon he was put in charge of Potiphar’s household. But, again he was double crossed by Potiphar’s wife who wanted Joseph as her play thing. Because Joseph wouldn’t play along, she falsely accused him. Now he winds up in Pharaoh’s prison.
Again, while in prison, because of Joseph’s faithful demeanor, he is put in charge again – this time by the prison keeper, over all the inmates.

While there he interprets the dream of Pharaoh’s butler and baker.

Two years later, when Pharaoh himself has a dream, the butler, now free and serving, remembered Joseph. Pharaoh calls for Joseph from prison to interpret his dream for him. Joseph tells him that “interpretations belong to God (Genesis 40.8).”

Joseph explains Pharaoh’s dream. There would be seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. Pharaoh should appoint someone to be in charge of storing all the abundance during the first period to have food for the land for the last period.

Pharaoh loves Joseph’s interpretation and his plan and then places Joseph as the man in charge. He lavishes him with significant gifts. “Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph's hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck (Genesis 41.42).” He also gives him a very special lady to be his wife.

Soon Joseph’s wife would bare him two sons. Manasseh and Ephraim. Names had a great deal of meaning for people back then, often reflecting what was transpiring in their lives.
Manasseh meant “Forgetting.” When he was born, Joseph said; “"For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house."

Joseph had seen a lot of ups and downs, but unlike Nottingham (as sung by Roger Miller in the cartoon Robin Hood), Joseph experienced one more up than he did downs. Let’s count them:



After this final blessing, Joseph forgets about all the trouble he went through to get where he was at that point. He names his son Manasseh, (forgetting). Joseph said; "For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house (Genesis 41.51)."

It’s important that we learn to forget past troubles. The Apostle Paul wrote, “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3.13-14). Paul forgot not only his past acclamations but also his past obstacles.

Joseph’s second son he named Ephraim (fruitful). Joseph commented: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

Joseph saw God at work through all that had happened to him and you’ll notice that he always gave God glory in every stage of his life – whether up or down.

I love these words: fruitful in the land of my affliction. He experienced the fruitfulness of the land – seven plenteous years that allowed him to store up food for the whole known world, really. He experienced the fruitfulness of a blessed life and he experienced the fruitfulness of family – a loving wife and two wonderful boys. But all this took place in a land where he had endured great affliction.

I don’t know what stage you are in right now. Maybe you’re experiencing fruitfulness as Joseph did. I know Joseph appreciated the fruitfulness of his life more than most because of all the turmoil he had to go through to get there.

But maybe you’re in a time of affliction yourself. Can you look to God in faith right now and believe that as a child of God, you expect to see fruitfulness in your land of affliction? It has been said that God will take your trial and turn it into blessing. I believe God will do this for you as well if you are a believer in Jesus Christ. Wait patiently on the Lord.

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not (Galatians 6.9).

GIVE UNTO THE LORD GLORY AND STRENGTH

Photo provided by Kay Rowe 

Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty,

give unto the LORD glory and

strength.  Give unto the LORD

the glory due unto his name;

worship the LORD in the

beauty of holiness.  The

voice of the LORD is

upon the waters: the God

of glory thundereth: the

LORD is upon many waters.
The voice of the LORD is

powerful; the voice of the

LORD is full of majesty.
The voice of the LORD

breaketh the cedars; yea,

the LORD breaketh the

cedars of Lebanon.  He

maketh them also to skip

like a calf; Lebanon and

Sirion like a young unicorn.
The voice of the LORD

divideth the flames of fire.
The voice of the LORD

shaketh the wilderness;

the LORD shaketh the

wilderness of Kadesh. The

voice of the LORD maketh

the hinds to calve, and

discovereth the forests:

and in his temple doth

every one speak of his glory.
The LORD sitteth upon the

flood; yea, the LORD sitteth

King for ever.  The LORD

will give strength unto his

people; the LORD will bless

his people with peace.

Psalm 29

BY GRACE

For by grace are ye saved through faith; 

and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Ephesians 2:8

THAT YOU MIGHT BECOME RICH

For ye know the grace of our 

Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he 

was rich, yet for your sakes 

he became poor, that ye through 

his poverty might be rich.

II Corinthians 8:9

For by grace are ye saved
through faith;  And that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man
should boast.  For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8-10