Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice!

                    Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, Rejoice!

It's easy to rejoice when things are going well. But, what about when your life has been plunged into the abyss and you see no hope for the future? Are you as prone to rejoice?

It's not natural to rejoice when things are going badly. In fact, it may seem strange to you and those around you that the Christian is expected to rejoice in such times. While it is not natural, it IS supernatural.

Note the scripture says to rejoice in the Lord. The ability to rejoice in the middle of circumstances that would dictate anything but that exists because the Christian's joy is not connected to their circumstances but to the God they serve. Only when believers who are going through trials decide to take God at His word and rejoice in difficult times will they experience the peace that God gives, even in the darkest of hours.

Trying to live out what I know to be true, Gloria

Praying For Others, No Trivial Matter!

 ". . . pray for one another, that you may be healed.The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man (woman) avails much"  James 5:16

Anyone who has read my posts (however sporadic) in the last few months knows I have been very ill. There were times I thought my days on earth were coming to a close. Although I did not fear death, still I desired, if God would see fit, to live a little longer. He has answered that prayer. I should say He has answered those prayers.

People all over America and other countries have  fervently lifted me up to God, asking for my healing.
Although the doctors still do not know what caused my illness nor been able to provide a means to eradicate it, God, in His infinite mercy has seen fit to hear the prayers of His children on my behalf. It is to that I attribute my being restored.

Do people ask you to pray for them? Do you remember to do so? My life hinged on the faithfulness of people who prayed. I firmly believe God saw the urgency of His children crying out on my behalf and did what He promised He would do, answer His children's prayers.

I don't believe those who prayed coerced God into doing something He did not want to do. I DO believe God saw the fervency with which His children petitioned on my behalf and answered, knowing it would bring glory to Himself.

I have learned several things from this.
1. I have much more compassion for those who are seriously ill. Having never been that ill before, I did not really understand what they were going through. Now I do.

2. It has made me more diligent in praying fervently for someone who is ill. I now know how important it is to stand with and for them before God's throne.

3. I treasure my health much more. I praise God and sometimes raise my hands in praise for His healing power in my life. I will never again look at health in a neglectful or callous way. It is a precious thing, something to be thankful for daily.

4. I don't have words to say how thankful I am for the righteous people who interceded on my behalf. I pray I will be such a person when needed.

Will the physicians ever find out what caused my illness? I don't know. I DO know the GREAT Physician has come to my aid. I'll take that any day!!!  

Thankful  for a God who hears and answers prayer and praising God for faithful prayer warriors, Gloria

Not any better. Have cat  scan, liver ultrasound and gastroenterology appt.  Please continue to pray.

Praising GOD in the bad times, Love, Gloria

Still sick.Would appreciate your prayers. Hope to be back next week.

Gloria

Losing Your Shirt Or Losing Your Skirt

   I've heard of the statement "losing your shirt" but I've never heard of "losing your skirt." That's what almost happened to me on Sunday.

  I usually plan on Saturday what I am going to wear on Sunday , , , makes life less hectic Sunday morning. Since we were camping until the end of the week, that kind of fell by the wayside.
   I know you will not believe this (I can't believe I'm even writing it) but I couldn't find anything to wear. I tried on a couple of things but they didn't look good. Finally I found a skirt. It looked good but the elastic was loose around the waist (I would have preferred that I had lost so much weight was the reason it was loose, but no.)
   I was desperate. I grabbed one of my faithful safety pins and pinned the front of the skirt to my slip. Surely that would keep it up for a few hours. It did keep up the front. The back? Another story!
    As I was standing on the podium doing my usual thing (with the choir sitting behind me) I felt the skirt begin to slip down in the back. How do you pull up your falling skirt without the choir noticing? I tried. Who knows what they thought. I was just happy the skirt didn't wind up down at my ankles!!!
   That skirt? It's in my closet ready to be repaired. I just hope I don't forget and try to wear it again before I fix it. My memory IS short. A few weeks from now, I may not even recall the fear I felt of losing my skirt!
    Life is full of stressful situations, isn't it? Most of you will probably not have to worry about losing your skirt in church but you WILL face situations that are difficult.
   Maybe you're in the middle of such a situation now. What do you do? You ask the the Lord to give you strength to go through the difficulty in a way that will show others how Christians face trials. Feel free to ask Him to alleviate your trouble IF He can get glory by doing so. Then start praising Him. When you do these things, you may find the difficulty, although not going away, will still seem less overwhelming .

Going through some difficulties worse than a loose skirt but still trusting and praising God, Gloria   

Notes, Winging It and God's Provision

Jesus told his disciples that when they stood before people not to worry about what they should say but that he would give them the words they needed. That scripture was fulfilled in my life yesterday!

We had high attendance in our Bible study time at church. My class had five new people attending. I was excited. That is, until I got up to teach and realized I had only two of the five pages of my notes. Talk about panic!!! Not good timing when we had guests in the class. I imagined they would never return again!

I know a considerable amount of scriptures but the numbers get me. I can quote you a scripture, or at least paraphrase it but ask me to tell you where it is located and I start sweating. Numbers and I are not the best of friends. There is a reason my husband doesn't let me near the checkbook!!!

I apologized profusely to our guests and prayed silently that God would help me recall the lesson I had planned. The class was gracious and supplied the scriptures when I told them what I wanted to find. It was kind of like a treasure hunt!

No one left. The visitors seemed to enjoy the lesson and God brought to mind what I had studied, minus scripture references, of course!

God is so good. He came through for me. I so appreciated that. The devil would have liked for the time to be disasterous and make it where the guests wouldn't want to return. But, God got the upper hand. I love it when that happens!!!



Thanking God for directing me yesterday (but planning on being sure I have ALL my notes next time) Gloria

Will There Be False Eyelashes in Heaven?

Is it just me or does aging also include loss of eyelashes? If it weren't for mascara and eyelash curlers, I doubt you could see mine!

I do want to warn you about something. If you use an eyelash curler, be sure and release it after you squeeze your lashes. I forgot to do that and have a few less lashes than before. Now I have even fewer lashes than before. Who would have thought being a ding-a-ling could even affect the number of lashes a person has!

I have threatened before to buy false eyelashes but, knowing how my life goes, one would probably fall in my salad plate while I was out to lunch with friends. I'm sure they would be delighted to add that one to their, "Have you heard the latest thing Gloria did" list. They have plenty without me adding more. 

I guess the worst thing would to be tasting a little crunch in my split pea soup. I get sick just thinking about that one!

I'm so glad I won't have any of these kinds of issues to deal with in heaven. I don't know exactly what it will be like there but, I can almost guarantee there won't be one false eyelash there!!

Looking forward to heaven for some important reasons and some not so important, Gloria