Flower City Work Camp....

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." (Ephesians 6:13 NIV)

This is the verse for our Flower City Work Camp this week.  Putting our faith into action.  Going out onto the streets of Rochester and meeting people, loving on them, and hopefully being the hands and feet of Jesus in everything that we do.

I have the privilege of being a part of the Sidewalk Club Ministry.  It is similar to a Vacation Bible School. Today our group went out and began cleaning an empty lot that will hopefully become a place of  acceptance and love for the neighborhood kids.   Because it was a beautiful day in Rochester, there were kids everywhere!  I believe we made a lot of great connections and hope that we will see them all tomorrow afternoon!

Never once did I feel unsafe.  We were told many times that the area we were serving was a high drug dealing area.  I felt The Lord's protection.  People were kind.  Every handshake seemed to break down barriers.  I have to say that not so long ago, I would have been scared.  I have never liked the "going door to door" thing.  But today was different.  God was leading.....such a sweet place to be!

The group of kids that I am with have such an infectious excitement for The Lord.  It will be great to see just how The Lord works in each of us this week!  I am blessed beyond what I deserve.

Here are some photos from earlier today.....

Getting sleeping arrangements settled before meetings.....

Some downtime before evening worship begins.....

A sanctuary full of teenagers worshiping  The Lord.  Such a sweet moment!

I am eagerly expecting GREAT things tomorrow!  

A Powerful Combination

                        The Bible without the Holy Spirit is a sundial by moonlight.
                                                         D. L. Moody

    Over the past few weeks, I have been listening to a sermon series by Dr. David Jeremiah about the importance of a disciplined mind.  Some, well all, of the sermons are packed FULL of such insight that I have listened to them multiple times. I still feel as though I need to go back and take notes on them so that the truths will stay with me.  One of the little nuggets that he shared was that we are who we think we are.  This is something that I have struggled with as far back as I can remember.     And having teenagers in the house, I see that this is something in which all ages and genders struggle with.  It all begins in the mind.  Our minds can be a battlefield for the enemy to bring us down....to second guess ourselves.  

It breaks my heart to see my children compare themselves to their peers or some famous person on TV.  However, when I pause and reflect on my own thoughts....I do the very same thing. Thoughts of, "I am not a good mother" or "I'm not pretty enough" or "I am so stupid" or "I am not ______" . That one blank can get filled in so quickly through the course of the day. Once those negative thoughts begin to circulate through the mind, it can easily distort the reality of our true self worth.

This is exactly where I was about five years ago. I am a perfectionist by nature. I want to have the appearance that everything is perfect. Notice I said "appearance".  Perfect figure.  Perfect hair.  Perfect house.  Perfect family....and the list goes on. I was constantly placing myself under great pressure to attain this so called "perfectness". What it did was to make my life miserable on the inside.   On the outside, I could put on my happy mask and smile.  But on the inside, I felt miserable. I could never measure up to my own expectations or how I thought other people viewed me.  My insecurities held me captive.  I was becoming a bitter person on the inside.  I knew something was not right when I was sitting through a baptismal service and caught myself looking down at my watch wondering how much longer until it was over.  What was wrong with me?  The person being baptized was showing family and friends that their hearts had been changed and that they wanted to serve the Lord.  This should MOVE me emotionally.  I should be thrilled to see someone want to live for Christ!  

I continually felt a tugging at my heart to just pray.  If there wasn't time in my day for anything else....I just needed to pray.  So I did.  I realized right then and there that I really didn't know HOW  to pray.  Meaning....I never just prayed my heart.  I was used to praying my little prayer check list and just going through the motions.  But one cold January morning, I knelt down by the bench at the end of my bed and prayed.  I talked with God.  I cried.  I listened.  I sang.  I read aloud Scripture from the Bible.  That was the day I began to experience true joy.  It was hard work.  It was very emotional because I had to retrain my mind.  I had to allow the Holy Spirit with the memorization of God's word to change me.  When negative thoughts would try to creep up, I had to replace that with something positive.  That positive being verses that I had memorized to fight back.  I like to call them my fighter verses.  One of the verses I used was from Proverbs 31:25, "She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come." I am clothed with the arms of Jesus wrapped tightly around me...and that gives me strength.  I have dignity because I am made in the image of God the Creator!  And I love this part..."she can laugh at the days to come."  I like to say that, "I WILL laugh at the days to come!"

When God's word and the Holy Spirit come together in a believer's mind, there is a powerful combination that occurs in our hearts and strengthens us.  This is what helped me to experience freedom in Christ.....freedom in my heart and in my mind.  To God be the Glory!  

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." Colossians 3:16

 

Be Still and Know That I am God

Still and Know that I am God

This Blog has come into being through events that occurred last year within my family.  I was looking through the CaringBridge sight that I had documented all the details of the Lord's hand upon my dad, my family, and myself.  We just had to take the time to, "Be still and know that I (He) is God."

The following account sums up what happened July, 2012 to September, 2012.

I am finally able to document all that has occurred last week. I will attach a letter that Eddie wrote to the church I amwhere my par I ents attend....but I want to back up and share a few more things that have happened in the past 6 weeks.After the first surgery on July 13, I went back into SICU to see daddy. He was pretty heavily sedated but was able to talk to me and mom. Out of the blue, he looked over at me with that serious look (you know the look that a parent gives a child when you better listen up), pointed his finger at me and said, "I saw God do a miracle today!". I continued to look at him and said, "Sir?". To which he replied, "I saw God do a miracle today!". And so it seemed that He had. The following 6 days were better than textbook. The doctors were pleasantly surprised by his progress and allowed daddy to go home earlier than expected.After 5 days of being home and having his drains removed, daddy's health took a turn. He was dehydrated and started experiencing kidney failure. A second surgery was needed. The surgeon was shocked that the tissue to connect the pancreas had died. He had never seen that before in all of his years of practice. He made a reference at one point that he felt like the enemy was trying to take a good man out. While in MICU, daddy looked at mom and said, "Did you see Him?". Mom asked him who he was talking about to which daddy said, "Did you see Him? Did you see Jesus? He was here.". Mom continued the discussion by asking him what Jesus said. Daddy replied with confidence, "He said that I was His child!". After mom told me this I had to stop and thank God for that precious gift that He had given to him in that hospital room.The following is the letter that I had mentioned before that my husband wrote regarding the last couple of weeks:

I am writing to tell you of the great turn around in Jerome Turner's health that we believe to be orchestrated by the Lord. While we seek wisdom and discernment in understanding what we witnessed this week, it seems the Lord decided to pay Jerome a visit in the hospital. 

When we arrived on Monday (Kelly, the kids and I), Jerome was emotionally, spiritually and physically very down. We had some really important discussions with him that night that relieved him of some of the stress he was under. One of the other problems he was encountering was the relentless hiccups. They would return each day and last most of the day. That alone can be very tiresome and a constant reminder that things aren't normal. But the biggest challenge was that the pancreas continued to misbehave and was not attaching to the intestine. At this point, Jerome had five drainage tubes and one feeding tube. 

On Monday night, I returned to the Turner's house with my son Turner. I felt compelled to get on my knees and pray for Jerome. My specific prayers were for the hiccups to stop, for him to have some increased strength and for encouragement. Also during Monday evening and subsequent moments during the early morning, Kelly prayed prayers of healing as she touched and massaged Jerome's feet and back. Her specific prayers were for the pancreas to begin to attach correctly to the intestine so that the troublesome leaking would stop.

Tuesday we witnessed Jerome's spirit improving, but by the end of the day, he was questioning the Lord's plan and began to feel down again. The doctor reiterated that this was a long journey and he could be in the hospital for a few weeks if not many, many days. He stressed patience to Jerome. Tuesday night and on to Wednesday morning, Jerome woke up in the middle of the night and could not get a verse out of his mind. The words were, "Be still and know that I am God." Jerome felt as if the Lord was giving him this verse but was puzzled about why and what it might mean. Kelly was awake and the two of them had a special prayer together for understanding. Jerome also stated that they should sing "How Great Thou Art" when the morning time came. At this time, they went back to sleep.

Wednesday came around and Kelly reminded Jerome about the singing so they harmonized the song, "How Great Thou Art". During the song, the hiccups cleared up! During the day, Jerome, Kelly and I had some discussions about the verse that Jerome felt the Lord gave him. We didn't realize it then, but apparently it was a call to exalt the Lord for what he was going to do. If you read the rest of that verse in Psalm 46:10, that is exactly what the Lord expected. During the night on Wednesday, Jerome was suddenly awakened by a great shifting type of pain in the area of the pancreas. It was so intense that he thought he was having a heart attack and Mary called the nurse. All vitals were taken and he checked out fine. 

Thursday, Jerome was walking further than he had before, eating pretty good and gaining in strength. Also, his spirit was being encouraged and strengthened too.

Friday morning came around and the doctor ordered an x-ray. Early on Friday, the doctor came in with a very happy and estatic report that the pancreas was finally flowing properly into the intestine. Further, all drainage tubes except one were gone and the doctor began to discuss checking him out of the hospital around Tuesday or so of this coming week.

We all of been emotional but have asked the Lord for healing and for understanding. We all have been in prayer mode and have watched for the Lord to move. The verse that the Lord gave to Jerome has the message of holiness with it, the expectation of exaltation and that He was going to do something. While Jerome still has improvement to achieve, we believe that something wonderful happened this week. We humbly and excitedly report this to you. We ask that you rejoice with us and praise the Lord for his work. As I write this, hiccups have not returned for days, the pancreas is behaving beautifully and Jerome's physical and emotional health have greatly increased. 

May the Lord be exalted among each of you. We have witnessed what the power of detailed prayer and an open heart can do. Something happened this week in the hospital room. Something changed. God moved. We have all have experienced a renewed strength and peace that can only come from the Lord! Grace and peace to you all and to God be the Glory!

In the beautiful and inspiring words of Psalm 46: 

1"God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields[d] with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

I pray that you will all be encouraged by this. While this journey is slow and painful...we know what we witnessed last week. Daddy improved and he is going home. Our eyes have been fine tuned to the eternal....a Holy God who walks beside us through the trials. Daddy still struggles with it all...however, we rally around him and encourage him to remember all that God has done. Doing that helps him and helps me as well. 

"Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" To God be the glory...even in this!