I pray for you a lot during Zumba, Mumsee–for some reason you and your crew often come to mind then, not to mention in the middle of the night. You got the 4:30 prayers this morning.
Thank you and God hears them and I appreciate them.
Prayer today for husband as he travels, should be in the air as we speak. Prayer for us as we go get him. And prayer for wisdom as we address the most current issue of the seventeen year old wandering into girls’ rooms handing out hugs and kisses. One of the boys tells me the boy has been hitting the monster drinks pretty hard and that would certainly do to keep him up at night and then fall back into old behaviors with nobody around to keep that in check. Thanks for praying.
A more aggressive, angry & openly hostile person toward God and his people I’ve never met. But I’ve learned this week she has a very deadly form of cancer (multiple myeloma) and may be quite close to death, possibly within days or weeks. She’s under hospice care in her home.
Pray for my attitude toward all of this, as well, as I began reminding myself of the fleeing Jonah (with Jane being one of the Ninevites) after I first hear the news. I’d spent a few months in this woman’s crosshairs several years back so she has not been one of my favorite people (and visa versa).
It took some confession and prayer last night to bring my attitude in line with what God would have me do right now, which simply is to pray I think.
A friend has been helping her out with her animals and other arrangements (which is how I heard). The friend is Catholic (though I’m not sure if she’s a believer or not) and said she doesn’t dare bring up the name of God, Jesus or prayer in her presence as she reacts so violently. From what I could tell from talking to Jane years ago, she’d been shaking her fist & railing against God for most of her life, boasting that she’d had an abortion and was happy about it, on and on. You get the picture.
I’ve never seen someone who was so openly hateful toward God and Jesus. Ever.
So I began thinking last night that maybe a few of us can storm heaven with prayers that God will move miraculously in her spirit and take her captive.
The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. Jane, obviously, understands God is there.
A hospice nurse told me once that people die the way they lived. If they were helpful and kind in life, that’s how they tend to be as they die. It may very well be that God is doing something in your heart, not Jane’s, and trust him to do the work he planned before the beginning of time for this situation.
That is to say, if Jane bows her knee and recognizes the Creator of the Universe as her God, we will rejoice. But if she does not, we leave her in his hands and you should not feel in any way responsible (if, for some reason, you do). Blessings for all, but particularly that the God who created Jane and loves her today as much as he did the day she was born, would become real to her in a meaningful way full of grace, mercy, loving-kindness and thanksgiving.
She is probably the closest person I’ve met that fits the term reprobate in spades. And yet I know that God must move in any of us who were dead in our trespasses & sins before we come to faith. No one can be pronounced eternally lost by us on this side of eternity, that’s in God’s hands entirely (though we do get some clues of probabilities, one way or another).
Writing my prayer out last night I came to realize my own unfaithful and resentful attitude, that I was still nursing some ill will toward her. I’d worked hard at the time to pray through finding forgiveness for her, thought I had, but realized last night there’s more work to do in me on that note.
But no, I don’t feel responsible for her salvation (or lack of it), I’m of the firm belief that our eternal destiny is in God’s hands. He uses us to share the gospel and to pray for the lost, it all plays a role in the means He uses — but the ultimate decision itself on whether one is saved or not does not rest on what we or others do or don’t do. It was His before the beginning of time. And that’s a great comfort.
Kind of reminds me of when my dad was dying. I knew that he did not want to hear anything about God or Jesus or the Bible, but I prayed that the Holy Spirit would get through to him anyway. (I knew that he had heard a clear gospel message on more than one occasion.)
The night before he died, while he was in a coma in ICU, a woman we didn’t know spent some time in his room with her Bible, praying. This was her ministry to ICU patients. That was a great comfort to me. I believe that God could have gotten through to Dad even in his coma. I won’t know until I am in Heaven, but God has given me a peace in the not knowing.
May His Holy Spirit melt Jane’s heart, & draw her into His Kingdom & Family.
I spent some time today, while Emily was driving Chrissy back to the McK’s, & no one else was home, sobbing my heart out to God for my girls. It started with concern (an aching heart, actually) for Chrissy, but included Emily, & Forrest, too, of course. Mostly I was crying out for God to save them, to unite us as a family in Christ, but also for Chrissy to come home.
I realize that since Chrissy is 22 years old, it would seem that it is time for her to be on her own. But she most probably has Asperger’s Syndrome, which slows down the maturing process. We weren’t finished helping her to learn to fly.
And she’s not really “on her own” – she went from living with her own family to living with the McK family, sharing a room with the two sisters. Quite frankly, what almost hurts the most is that I know, although she has not said this aloud, that she prefers their family to ours.
Lee mentioned once that he sometimes prays that God would put a wedge between Chrissy & them, & I’ve prayed that, too, although I don’t think a fractured relationship is what God would prefer. But lately I’ve felt led to pray that something about living there will just become insufferable for her, & she’ll want to come home.
But above all, we pray that God’s will be done, that whatever He wants to accomplish through this situation be accomplished, even if it means this mama aches for her daughter for a while.
Gotta go kiss my hubby goodnight. I’ll be back in a bit with the praise part.
My very good & sweet friend, Renee, often sends me sweet notes of encouragement, reminding me that she is praying for me. This afternoon, after all that sobbing, I received this note from her, written yesterday morning…
“I was praying for you early this morning and I felt like the Lord told me to tell you that He hears you when you cry out to Him. …”
God’s timing is wonderful. And of course, reading this made me burst into tears again, but that time because I was so moved by God’s caring for me & prompting Renee to write this.
So, I pass this on to you who are crying out to God, shedding tears for your child, your marriage, your finances, your health, your _______. God hears, & He cares.
Wandering Views 
Whoops, I thought it was a Mumsee day, so I prayed for the nest. I’ll get right onto Jo and friends.
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Thanks, Michelle, feel free to make that “error” at any time.
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I pray for you a lot during Zumba, Mumsee–for some reason you and your crew often come to mind then, not to mention in the middle of the night. You got the 4:30 prayers this morning.
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Thank you and God hears them and I appreciate them.
Prayer today for husband as he travels, should be in the air as we speak. Prayer for us as we go get him. And prayer for wisdom as we address the most current issue of the seventeen year old wandering into girls’ rooms handing out hugs and kisses. One of the boys tells me the boy has been hitting the monster drinks pretty hard and that would certainly do to keep him up at night and then fall back into old behaviors with nobody around to keep that in check. Thanks for praying.
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Pray for the salvation of a woman named Jane.
A more aggressive, angry & openly hostile person toward God and his people I’ve never met. But I’ve learned this week she has a very deadly form of cancer (multiple myeloma) and may be quite close to death, possibly within days or weeks. She’s under hospice care in her home.
Pray for my attitude toward all of this, as well, as I began reminding myself of the fleeing Jonah (with Jane being one of the Ninevites) after I first hear the news. I’d spent a few months in this woman’s crosshairs several years back so she has not been one of my favorite people (and visa versa).
It took some confession and prayer last night to bring my attitude in line with what God would have me do right now, which simply is to pray I think.
A friend has been helping her out with her animals and other arrangements (which is how I heard). The friend is Catholic (though I’m not sure if she’s a believer or not) and said she doesn’t dare bring up the name of God, Jesus or prayer in her presence as she reacts so violently. From what I could tell from talking to Jane years ago, she’d been shaking her fist & railing against God for most of her life, boasting that she’d had an abortion and was happy about it, on and on. You get the picture.
I’ve never seen someone who was so openly hateful toward God and Jesus. Ever.
So I began thinking last night that maybe a few of us can storm heaven with prayers that God will move miraculously in her spirit and take her captive.
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Got it, Donna.
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The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. Jane, obviously, understands God is there.
A hospice nurse told me once that people die the way they lived. If they were helpful and kind in life, that’s how they tend to be as they die. It may very well be that God is doing something in your heart, not Jane’s, and trust him to do the work he planned before the beginning of time for this situation.
That is to say, if Jane bows her knee and recognizes the Creator of the Universe as her God, we will rejoice. But if she does not, we leave her in his hands and you should not feel in any way responsible (if, for some reason, you do). Blessings for all, but particularly that the God who created Jane and loves her today as much as he did the day she was born, would become real to her in a meaningful way full of grace, mercy, loving-kindness and thanksgiving.
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Michelle, yep.
She is probably the closest person I’ve met that fits the term reprobate in spades. And yet I know that God must move in any of us who were dead in our trespasses & sins before we come to faith. No one can be pronounced eternally lost by us on this side of eternity, that’s in God’s hands entirely (though we do get some clues of probabilities, one way or another).
Writing my prayer out last night I came to realize my own unfaithful and resentful attitude, that I was still nursing some ill will toward her. I’d worked hard at the time to pray through finding forgiveness for her, thought I had, but realized last night there’s more work to do in me on that note.
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But no, I don’t feel responsible for her salvation (or lack of it), I’m of the firm belief that our eternal destiny is in God’s hands. He uses us to share the gospel and to pray for the lost, it all plays a role in the means He uses — but the ultimate decision itself on whether one is saved or not does not rest on what we or others do or don’t do. It was His before the beginning of time. And that’s a great comfort.
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Praying for Jane, Donna.
Kind of reminds me of when my dad was dying. I knew that he did not want to hear anything about God or Jesus or the Bible, but I prayed that the Holy Spirit would get through to him anyway. (I knew that he had heard a clear gospel message on more than one occasion.)
The night before he died, while he was in a coma in ICU, a woman we didn’t know spent some time in his room with her Bible, praying. This was her ministry to ICU patients. That was a great comfort to me. I believe that God could have gotten through to Dad even in his coma. I won’t know until I am in Heaven, but God has given me a peace in the not knowing.
May His Holy Spirit melt Jane’s heart, & draw her into His Kingdom & Family.
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This is both a prayer request & a praise…
I spent some time today, while Emily was driving Chrissy back to the McK’s, & no one else was home, sobbing my heart out to God for my girls. It started with concern (an aching heart, actually) for Chrissy, but included Emily, & Forrest, too, of course. Mostly I was crying out for God to save them, to unite us as a family in Christ, but also for Chrissy to come home.
I realize that since Chrissy is 22 years old, it would seem that it is time for her to be on her own. But she most probably has Asperger’s Syndrome, which slows down the maturing process. We weren’t finished helping her to learn to fly.
And she’s not really “on her own” – she went from living with her own family to living with the McK family, sharing a room with the two sisters. Quite frankly, what almost hurts the most is that I know, although she has not said this aloud, that she prefers their family to ours.
Lee mentioned once that he sometimes prays that God would put a wedge between Chrissy & them, & I’ve prayed that, too, although I don’t think a fractured relationship is what God would prefer. But lately I’ve felt led to pray that something about living there will just become insufferable for her, & she’ll want to come home.
But above all, we pray that God’s will be done, that whatever He wants to accomplish through this situation be accomplished, even if it means this mama aches for her daughter for a while.
Gotta go kiss my hubby goodnight. I’ll be back in a bit with the praise part.
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Now here’s the praise & thanksgiving part…
My very good & sweet friend, Renee, often sends me sweet notes of encouragement, reminding me that she is praying for me. This afternoon, after all that sobbing, I received this note from her, written yesterday morning…
“I was praying for you early this morning and I felt like the Lord told me to tell you that He hears you when you cry out to Him. …”
God’s timing is wonderful. And of course, reading this made me burst into tears again, but that time because I was so moved by God’s caring for me & prompting Renee to write this.
So, I pass this on to you who are crying out to God, shedding tears for your child, your marriage, your finances, your health, your _______. God hears, & He cares.
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Karen (5:58), I agree. The wind blows where it will. …
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