Good Day to you all!! I pray that you are all doing well today, and this finds you living and loving God the way He loves to be loved by us...His prized possessions. I have been expanding on this diagnosis that I received in March for a couple of blogs, and I hope that you all are not getting tired of hearing about it. Because this is where God has me right now. And I believe I will be here at this place until He totally heals my body, SO that I will be one of His many miracles and that I can move on to His next assignment that He has in store for me. As I had to tell my precious Mother not too long ago; "this is MY journey Mom...not yours. No matter HOW badly you want to take away my pain...this disease...you can't. This is what God designed ME for"...It truly hurt me to have to tell my Mom this because it is our Godly duty as parents to want the very best for our children, as it is with God. But, it is the truth. And no matter how badly she wants to take away this disease from me...and preserve it for me...it is my journey, not hers. Prior to having to tell her this I had gone for a motorcycle ride...and it was there on my bike....that the Holy Spirit put me at peace with my diagnosis.
I really don't know if it was at 80, but that sounds about right...lol...and I am at peace; not that I have every really worried about this disease, BUT to truly understand what the Holy Spirit shared with me that day...has given me total insight to where I am and how God works. And I am not scared now at all. As a matter of fact it is now my job to put all of you at ease about this disease. And that is how powerful this message is, so I ask you all to truly open your hearts as you read this and let God into the deepest parts of your hearts to do whatever it is He intends for you to receive from this message. It is so fundamentally simple too...as always, the most difficult thing is to listen to Him and "let" Him have complete control of your life.
He came to me, not in a physical form...but in my mind, and shared this with me. He knows every hair on my head. He is the beginning and the end...He has known me since I was in my Mother's womb. He knows what He has in store for my life...there is NO reason to be scared or worry about this, because no matter what, I will be in the presence of OUR Lord.
That was it...plain and simple and straight to the point - just the way I like it...LOL...He is a good God. This put me in such a relaxed frame of mind...total peace. Most likely for the first time in my life too. My life over the past almost 2 years has been leading me up to this point. He has been getting me ready for this very place. He removed all my distractions, (my home, my job...my bills - not that they are paid off, but we'll cover that in another blog). I feel as if I have been in the furnace this entire time and that God has been molding me into a totally different person...one that is much closer to Him than I would have been otherwise. You see by Him taking away all that I have had in the past, He has made me "depend" totally upon Him. It has been a process, and I would be lying if I told you that it was painless. BUT here I am today...in the worlds eyes, I have an incurable disease, but in my eyes I am living proof that if we trust God - He will take care of us...NO matter what we see happening in our lives.
This peace I now feel is overwhelming at times because I still see the hurt and pain in my loved ones eyes. The thought of them losing me hurts them...so I am grateful that God has given me this insight to share with them...BECAUSE it applies to them as well...to ALL of you for that matter, AND I so want you all to feel this peace that I now feel and have felt for quite some time now. And not only for me and where I am, BUT mainly for you all in your lives...this is such a blessing to have this freedom from worry...and you can apply it to everything in your life!!! No matter what...you can have this same gift from God if you can open your hearts to Him...and totally trust Him. Listen for guidance from the Holy Spirit...He is our gift from God so that we can hear from God Himself...and He brings peace whereever He goes.
until next time....
Father God I thank You with all my heart for allowing me to hear Your comforting words that day...thank You for allowing the Holy Spirit to come to me and give me this peace. I pray to You that whoever reads this will gain the "peace" that I know You intend for them ..I pray that You place a hedge of protection around every person who reads this so that satan will not be able to gain access into their hearts and torture them with doubt, worry and fear. Bless them all Father God with the same peace you have given me with whatever they presently face...Keep it simple and straight forward Lord so that we will all see the simplicity in all You do...Thank You Father for all You do...these things we pray in Jesus' sweet name, Amen
Monday, September 6, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
The Community Within The Community
Hello all, may God continue to shine His light upon you each and every day...today I am going to continue to expand on the ALS diagnosis. BUT at the same time; in order to do that I am going to have to take a step back to February 5, 2010. This was the weekend of Donna Porterfield Sullivan's benefit. This happens to be the very same weekend that I move back to Nederland. It is before I knew what was wrong with me, but after the slur had set in and there was no denying that there was something wrong with me. So I rapidly went from one status to another...from being a participant of a benefit, a supporter at a benefit for a friend and classmate...to the one who the benefit's are for. One of my closest friends ask me the other day how long it took to write one of my blogs; my reply was - "it depends on how involved the Holy Spirit is with me while I write that blog". In this particular case I actually started this blog shortly after the benefit in February. BUT it was not time for me to write on this particular subject. Until now...
I will be the first to admit; I was not shy about wanting to get out of Nederland when I was younger, but now that I am older I realize just how important my "hometown" is to making me the person that I am today. This past February there was a benefit for one of our own. Donna had developed a brain tumor, and her family and friends put together a benefit in her honor; to help with her medical expenses, and to just spend some time with her. I know things like this happen everyday somewhere in the world, but this was in "our hometown"...and people came from all over to show their support. And here in Texas when you say people came from "all over" - I'm talking about driving for hours to get here to support our classmate in her time of need.
I didn't think of myself as very popular guy, but I was known "of" - I guess...maybe a little more than I have always imagined. I have always kidded that I was known as "Joey Mitchell's older brother", because he was the football player, and where I grew up - that seemed to be a mandatory part of life and being recognized. BUT as I have grown and matured I have learn so much more about the place I grew up in, and the most important thing is the love we all have for "community". There is true love for "community" in Nederland, Texas. I don't, nor will I pretend to know what the definition is of "community" is in Webster's dictionary, but for this blog I am going to assign this definition to it: "community" - the place where you are most at peace. Who would have ever imagined that I would now be in that same position...and that I would now be at the receiving end of that very same love that was demonstrated in February. And I must admit that it is a very different position to be in...and I say this because I had always been in the position of being a person that was the "helper", and not the person that was being "helped".
So, that was one of the first things that I had to learn: how to let the people that now wanted to bless me...by doing things for me to do so. That is a little harder to do than what one would imagine, and I have had to rely on God a little more than what you would think...BUT I am learning how to do just that. Because I have to let the ones around me do the blessings too. While it is a different place to be, it is such a blessing to allow God to work through this process. And our community isn't just where we grew up, or where we went to High School...work...or go to church. According to my definition...it is where we are "most" at peace. So let us take that definition and take it one step further: let's apply it to "where ever" are...and for us to use God's love while we are at our "most" peaceful place. Because if we are at peace...we are walking with God...that is just how He rolls...He is a good God. He is the Prince of Peace...s let us take Him where ever we go and share Him with who ever we can. All it takes is showing His love. Which brings us back to our community and the love we all have for where we live.
until next time...
Father, we love You and appreciate You and all You do. We all strive to become that which You have designed for us to be. You are our rock, our stronghold our place of peace. We come to You today and everyday seeking You and all Your glory Father God. We ask You to be with us always Father. To bring us the "peace" that You and only You can provide. We ask You to be in the center of our "community" where ever our "community" resides at that moment, because it is You Father that is at the center of that "community"...these things we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
I will be the first to admit; I was not shy about wanting to get out of Nederland when I was younger, but now that I am older I realize just how important my "hometown" is to making me the person that I am today. This past February there was a benefit for one of our own. Donna had developed a brain tumor, and her family and friends put together a benefit in her honor; to help with her medical expenses, and to just spend some time with her. I know things like this happen everyday somewhere in the world, but this was in "our hometown"...and people came from all over to show their support. And here in Texas when you say people came from "all over" - I'm talking about driving for hours to get here to support our classmate in her time of need.
I didn't think of myself as very popular guy, but I was known "of" - I guess...maybe a little more than I have always imagined. I have always kidded that I was known as "Joey Mitchell's older brother", because he was the football player, and where I grew up - that seemed to be a mandatory part of life and being recognized. BUT as I have grown and matured I have learn so much more about the place I grew up in, and the most important thing is the love we all have for "community". There is true love for "community" in Nederland, Texas. I don't, nor will I pretend to know what the definition is of "community" is in Webster's dictionary, but for this blog I am going to assign this definition to it: "community" - the place where you are most at peace. Who would have ever imagined that I would now be in that same position...and that I would now be at the receiving end of that very same love that was demonstrated in February. And I must admit that it is a very different position to be in...and I say this because I had always been in the position of being a person that was the "helper", and not the person that was being "helped".
So, that was one of the first things that I had to learn: how to let the people that now wanted to bless me...by doing things for me to do so. That is a little harder to do than what one would imagine, and I have had to rely on God a little more than what you would think...BUT I am learning how to do just that. Because I have to let the ones around me do the blessings too. While it is a different place to be, it is such a blessing to allow God to work through this process. And our community isn't just where we grew up, or where we went to High School...work...or go to church. According to my definition...it is where we are "most" at peace. So let us take that definition and take it one step further: let's apply it to "where ever" are...and for us to use God's love while we are at our "most" peaceful place. Because if we are at peace...we are walking with God...that is just how He rolls...He is a good God. He is the Prince of Peace...s let us take Him where ever we go and share Him with who ever we can. All it takes is showing His love. Which brings us back to our community and the love we all have for where we live.
until next time...
Father, we love You and appreciate You and all You do. We all strive to become that which You have designed for us to be. You are our rock, our stronghold our place of peace. We come to You today and everyday seeking You and all Your glory Father God. We ask You to be with us always Father. To bring us the "peace" that You and only You can provide. We ask You to be in the center of our "community" where ever our "community" resides at that moment, because it is You Father that is at the center of that "community"...these things we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
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