Cece Winans - More Than What I Wanted

Thank you!

We see miracles happen everyday but we do not notice them until they affect us or someone close to us.  I want to take the time to say thank you to Mr. & Mrs. Bates for being a miracle.  To God be the glory! God bless you and be with you, always!

Prayers in Time of Sickness!

Prayer in Time of Sickness

O Jesus, You suffered and died for us; You understand suffering;  Teach _(Name)_ to understand _(His/Her)_ suffering as You do; To bear it in union with You; To offer it with You to atone for _(His/Her)_ sins and to bring Your grace to souls in need. alm _(His/Her)_ fears;  increase _(His/Her)_ trust. May _(His/Her)_  gladly accept Your holy will and become more like You in trial. If it be Your will, restore _(His/Her)_ to health so that _(His/Her) may Work for Your honor and glory and the salvation of all men. Amen.

Mary, help of the sick, pray for me.

*** You may use this pray for others. If praying for yourself; (Name) and (His/Her) can be substituted with (Me).

Prayer for the Sick

Dear Jesus, Divine Physician and Healer of the Sick, we turn to You in this time of illness. O dearest Comforter of the Troubled, alleviate our worry and sorrow with Your gentle love, and grant us the grace and strength to accept this burden. Dear God, we place our worries in Your hands. We place our sick under Your care and humbly ask that You restore Your servant to health again. Above all, grant us the grace to acknowledge your holy will and know that whatsoever You do, You do for the love of us.  Amen                                         

Source: A Collection of Favorite Prayers

*NEW* Marvin Winans - Draw me Close to You / Thy Will be Done

What Am I Supposed To Do Now, Lord?

What are we supposed to do when we go through adversity?  We seek God’s answer through prayers and supplications but we still do not hear from Him. It seems the more time we give, the longer we wait.  I know that it is God’s timing not my own but I can not help it since I think worldly.  I also know for a fact that God has not brought me this far to leave me now.  When we get too comfortable we do not want to change.  In fact, in our comfort zones, we take things for granted and when you take things for granted you do not miss them until they are gone.  When we face a crisis, we tend to look at the crisis instead of looking at God who is bigger than our crisis. Sometimes we do not see the good in things because we are concentrating on the bad. We lose sleep, weight, cry and get depressed when something in our lives change from what we were used to.

In 2 Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat realized that he was about to face three armies and the odds were three against one.  Jehoshaphat realized his helplessness in the midst of this crisis. Fear gripped him because he knew that he could not stand against this united force. This great multitude was more than he could handle. He openly declares this to the Lord, "For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us" 2 Chronicles 20:12. He recognized that he was helpless in this midst of this crisis. He acknowledged that he could not deal with this crisis on his own.  Jehoshaphat accepted the fact that he was helpless and nothing in his own power could change it.

This sense of helplessness compelled him to pray, "And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah." 2 Chronicles 20:3. He prayed because of his helplessness. And he did not mouth a superficial prayer. He prayed with intensity in this crisis. The text says that he "set himself to seek the Lord." He then proclaimed a fast. This fasting would only intensify his praying. He poured his heart out to God because He knew that only God could help. The root of this intense praying is his helplessness. That is why it is crucial to realize our helplessness in the midst of the crisis. The acknowledgment of our helplessness will drive us to pray. It will motivate us to seek the Lord and depend on Him for His strength, His solutions, and His direction. Helplessness is not a hindrance to prayer. It is actually a help to seeking God. Let our helplessness drive us to seek God. We cannot handle the crises of our lives and that we must pray as we face them and grow through them.

Our response to a crisis is often to find a solution. We try and work it out on our own to relieve the pain. Sometimes our pride makes us think that we can handle the crisis. Yet, our first response to a crisis should be to commit to seeking the Lord. The commitment of our heart must be, "Lord, I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are fixed on You." Our commitment must be to pray and wait on the Lord. There are times that God will answer us immediately in the midst of a crisis. Then, there are other times when God’s answer comes later. We live in an age of fast food, drive-through banking, and instant communication. We are used to instant gratification. As a child of God, we will be required to seek Him and wait on Him and His timing. Sometimes we will have to seek Him intensely and wait for Him. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7.

Jehoshaphat praised God in the midst of his crisis. He put his confidence in the greatness of God not in the power of man.  We need to do the same, concentrate on God’s character and love for us.  Remind him of the promises He made to us and accept His will.  The real pain is leaving our comfort zone for something better.  In the end, Jehoshaphat did not fight the battle, a loving and merciful God did.  In fact, God told Jehoshaphat to stand back and watch. God answered Jehoshaphat’s prayer for help. His command was clear, "Listen, all you of Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." 2 Chronicles 20:15-17. God promised victory if they would trust in Him and stand firm. They experienced victory because they sought God, listened to Him, and obeyed Him.  Keep in mind that our battles can be sickness, drug independence, financial, marital and other issues that can cause crises.

When we are in the midst of a crisis, we must remember whose crisis it is. We must understand that it is God’s crisis. It is God’s opportunity to work in powerful and unique ways in our lives. This is His occasion to reveal Himself in new and fresh ways to us. It is His circumstance to show us how much He loves us and cares for us. I am not saying that everything that happens to us is good. There are a lot of crappy things that can happen to us. The crises that we face in life can be agonizing and devastating. Yet, at the same time, they can be opportunities for God to work in us, speak to us, and change us. They can be times for God to show us Himself as never before in our lives. We do not have to drown in fear and discouragement in the midst of crisis. Understand that this is God’s opportunity to work in our lives. The crises may be bad, but God is good. No matter how hard life gets, God is always good and merciful. He can take the crises of life and use them for His own glory and our good.

Praise God for being the Potter who shapes and molds our lives even through adversity. Praise God for being the generous God who pours out His blessings on us in the midst of adversity. Praise God for being the giving God who supplies our needs even in the midst of crisis.

I love you and appreciate you. God bless!

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11.

Rest In Peace, Joan Rivers!

Joan Rivers dead at 81! The native New Yorker, who became almost as famous for her unapologetic love of plastic surgery as her barbed humor, never recovered after going into cardiac and respiratory arrest Aug. 28. Melissa Rivers decided to take her mother off life support at The Mount Sinai Hospital eight days after she arrived at the facility.

Opportunities!

I don’t know where this precept came from but think about how many opportunities we already missed. That's the joy of learning from experience, you are never too old to learn something new.

"Think about the people in

YOUR WORLD.

There will be opportunities

every day

for you to open your arms…

To the ones you love…

To the strangers you don’t know.

They just might see a light in you that

will give them a

reason to believe in something bigger

than themselves…

Someone bigger than us all.

That’s something…

Something

worth leaving behind."

Anon.