God our God!

Miracles
Oral Roberts

Psalm 77:13,14 says, Who is so great a God as our God? You are the God who does wonders. A belief in a God who performs miracles creates within us an enthusiasm for life. Many people look upon each day not as a challenge for excellence, but as another grind through which they must pass. God did not create us to grovel on that plane of life. Happy is the man who possesses the faith deep within him that, at any moment, God can invade his circumstances and perform a miracle.

My Declaration of Faith for Today
Lord, I rejoice in the knowledge that You are a God of miracles and that nothing is impossible to You.

Incade our lives God, and preform Miracles! We believe in You. Make the everyday Miracles come alive to us in our daily routines. Thank You for all of the Miracles that you have done in our lives and for the Miracles that You are going to do. We love you!

Savoring Moments about Moms

May 7, 2008
Moms Standing Guard
Sharon Jaynes

In celebration of Mother's Day, Sharon will have several devotions devoted to moms!

Today's Truth
"She watches over the affairs of her household..." (Proverbs 31:27 NIV).

Friend to Friend
I have always seen a mother as a lighthouse, or beacon in a child's life. Think about it. A beacon is a landmark that her children can always count on. She shines the light of Christ at night and she serves as a landmark by day. She is watching out over the sea of faces to protect her tiny fleet. Like the Proverbs 31 woman she "watches over the ways of her household." She is present. She's available. And she's on guard.

The words "watch over" mean "to hedge about as with thorns," much like a mother bird might do to protect her young. These same words are also used in the Bible as a military term, such as to watch over a city. Can't you just see it now: the lighthouse standing tall, not tossed by the surf, guiding her children safely to shore?

But this beacon watches out for more than the physical safety of her fleet. She watches out for their spiritual and emotional needs as well.

Her gaze is not a casual glance. She doesn't just give her children a "once over" before they rush out the door to make sure their hair is combed and their socks match. This mother actively guards, protects, saves, guides, and attends to those precious to her.

When children approach adolescence, they desire Mom to be less visible. However, they want to know the sentinel is still available. Being available for that teen after school is paramount. They need a refuge, a safe harbor after a day of social combat. Who will they turn to? Whoever is available and willing to listen. If it is not you, it will be someone else. And just who that someone could be is a scary thought. Studies show the highest time of sexual activity among teens is between three and five P.M. and it occurs not in the back seat of a car, but in the teen's home before the parents get home from work.
Being physically present is not the mother's primary goal. Having the greatest possible impact on her home is. You can be physically present and still not make a positive impact. You can be there, but not be all there. You can become so wrapped up in other pursuits, so focused on relational struggles, so preoccupied with keeping the castle clean and checking items off your "to do" list, so engrossed in television or a good book, that you are oblivious to the chubby fingers tugging on your skirt or the teenager who has become withdrawn and sullen. If you are going to be there - then be all there - mind, body and soul.

Being a landmark doesn't end when a child goes off to college. The farther a ship goes out to sea, the more important the landmarks become. One day in the Sunday school class I attend, 150 parents of teenagers sat with an air of foreboding filling the room. Just the day before, many of them had seen their children off. It was the Sunday after many students had made their exodus to that wild, frenzied world of academia, experimentation, and freedom -- their kids had gone off to college.

Grown men were weepy, sharing their battle wounds of dropping their baby girls off at tiny, stark dorm rooms. Moms were unashamedly crying, and many were speechless for the first time in their lives.

Nancy and Bill Hall were there that day. Their son, Jordan, a rising sophomore, was visiting our class and witnessed these blubbering parents. In an attempt to encourage everyone, our teacher asked, " Jordan , since you haven't gone back to school yet and already have one year under your belt, can you share some words of wisdom with the class about what you feel your parents did right during your first year of college?"

With that, Jordan rose, faced the class, and replied," I would like to take this time to publicly thank my parents for the strong moral upbringing they gave me. I want to thank them for the way they gave me my freedom when I went off to college. But more importantly for the way they let me come back home. They were always available when I needed someone to talk to, and they've left the lines of communication open. They have been great parents and I like to publicly thank them for all they've done."

When Jordan sat down, everyone was crying, even those who did not have children leaving for college. He had risen and called his parents blessed. His mother was a beacon. A faithful landmark that keep her light shining, welcoming him home, but directing the way so he could leave and sail out to new horizons.

Their childhood goes by so quickly yet we can never turn back the clock as this poem expresses.
My hands were busy through the day.
I didn't have much time to play
The little games you asked me to,
I didn't have much time for you.

I'd wash your clothes.
I'd sew and cook,
But when you'd bring your picture book
And asked me please to share your fun,
I'd say, "A little later son."

I'd tuck you in all safe at night
And hear your prayers, turn out the light,
Then tiptoe softly to the door...
I wish I'd stayed a minute more.

For life is short, the years rush past.
A little boy grows up so fast.
No longer is he at your side,
His precious secrets to confide.

The picture books are put away,
There are no longer games to play.
No good-night kisses, no prayers to hear,
That all belongs to yesteryear.

My hands once busy, now are still
The days are long and hard to fill.
I wish I could go back and do
The little things you asked me to.
(Author Unknown)

Let's Pray
Dear Lord, Thank You for being the light of my life. I pray that You will help me watch over the ways of my household with a wise and understanding eye. Help me not to miss the special moments, but to embrace and enjoy them. Remind me often to stop and pray for those that You have placed within my care.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

Now it's Your Turn
List all of the functions and characteristics of a lighthouse that you can think of.
How are those similar to a mother and her children?

What are some ways that you watch over the ways of your household?

Place your right hand on your left side and your left hand on your right side. Now give yourself a big hug. That's from me! You're doing a great job!

More from the Girlfriends
If you are a mom who needs some encouragement today, you'll want to read Sharon's book, Being a Great Mom-Raising Great Kids. You'll laugh. You'll cry. And you will know that you have one of the most important jobs on earth.

G.I.G.
Girlfriends in God, Inc.
P.O. Box 725
Matthews, North Carolina 28106
Web site: http://www.girlfriendsingod.com/
Email: http://us.f534.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=info@girlfriendsingod.com

Boys and thier toys

Today Tyler & Eric went riding on some ATV trails with their 4-wheelers. They were gone for over 5 hours. When he came back I had to take some pics of how he looked. When he left he was wearing a white t-shirt and some jeans. And this is what he looked like when he came back . . .

Tyler just got alittle muddy. Only a mother can love a face as dirty as that. :-) The dirt rings under his neck are my favorite. He looks whooped!

Look how muddy he is. I think that he rolled around in the mud.

This shirt was white when he left today. I'm not sure if bleach will even help that.

This Tylers 4-wheeler.
It got a little muddy.

He had fun and that's what counts.

Marc & Alix went to church and then Marc had some things to do to help some people out. So they were gone until about 3:30.

I was up most of the night with a sore throat from snot draining down my throat . So I tried to sleep in the chair so that I would be able to be upright . . . but it didn't work out too well. So I finally got in bed and got some sleep. I woke up with a major headache, from sinusis, and it is hurting behind my eyes. I feel like there is a lump in my throat. My throat is still sore and my ear is hurting. I have been taking some meds but it is only helping alittle. Well I am going to go for now.

I wish you could hear Daisy, she is laying on my lap and she is snoring. It is so funny! :-)

Blessings~

Autumn

The Lord will establish for you a house . . .

"...Also the Lord declares to you that He will make (establish) for you a house (Royal Dynasty)." ~2 Samuel 7:11 Amp

"Furthermore. I foretell to you that the Lord will build you a house (a blessed posterity)."
~1 Chronicles 17:10


Thursday (5/1) was an eventful day for me as I haven't been doing a lot of things lately. I took the dogs to the vet to have a procedure done. I won't go into details about it because it is kinda gross. They have to have this done every couple of months. I have one male chihuahua, he will be 5 in Dec. and his name is Jake. And we got another dog in Jan. 2008 and she is a dachshund and she is going to be 3 in Dec.


This is Daisy & Jake riding around with us to look at the houses.

We have been wanting to get a house for a long time. We were close last year but it fell through. After that experience we felt disappointed. We didn't want to get let down again. So I felt like looking again to see if there was anything out there in our price range and since the interest rates are so low. If we were going to try again we should do it. Marc is still apprehensive. So I look for some myself and I found 3 houses that I wanted to check out.



By the way Tyler has his learners licence and has been driving me around. So be careful around town. Just kidding! :-) Tyler drove us around to look at the houses. The first house that we looked at was a nice looking house, but the back yard had quite abit of slope to it. Tyler said that we couldn't get that one because we couldn't put a pool in the back yard. I love how they think. LOL! When we were leaving I noticed that on the realty sign it had a "Under Contract" on it. The next house was a HUD house and I wasn't sure about it because those houses usually need alot of work. But we went to look at it and it needs some cleaning but other than that I really liked it. It has potential. It is kinda out a little ways but I can get used to that. I didn't want to get too excited about it. So we went on to the last house and we liked it also and I would have loved to have it. So I called the realty agent to see if we could make an appointment to look at it and she said that is was "Under Contract". I was really disappointed. So 1 out of 3 were not under contract, was this a sign for us? I don't know but it looks hopeful.



This is the HUD house. What do you think?


I have sent the realtor agent who has the HUD home an e-mail to see if we can see the house. Maybe we will be able to see soon. I am trying not to get too excited. I don't know what the process will be to see if we can buy the HUD house. I am praying that we will have the favor of the Lord and the process will go smoothly and all the paper work will go through speedily.

I have to say that I am a little concern about our credit score. It isn't that high because we have had some bills that went to collections that we didn't realize. We are going to pay the small bill off and pay a payment on the other one up and make payment arrangements for the rest of it. Marc was told that it would take a couple of months for our credit score to come up. I thought that they up dated the scores monthly? I don't know. I just wish that we didn't have to worry about it.

I am tired of struggle. Ever since Alix (daughter) was a baby she has been in & out of the hospital. And in 1997 we filled liquidation because of all the medical bills. Then in 2000 we filled bankruptcy, that should have fallen off the credit report earlier this year, due to an overwhelming amount of medical bills from Alix's illness. Thank the Lord that she is doing alot better and has not been really sick in a long time. But in March 2004 I suffered a subarachnoid brain hemorrhage and racked up some BIG hospital bills. Not including the life flight bill. I try to not focus on the bills and focus on my recovery. And in Nov. 2004 I had a major back operation and racked up another BIG bill. It was like we couldn't get a break.

I don't want to get too excited about the house because of how wrong things went the last time we tried to apply for a loan to buy a house. It really made us angry about the way we were treated. And that is something that we had to deal with. But God knows what is best for us even if we are too selfish and stubborn to see it.

God has been showing me how to have a thankful attitude for the things that I have. Especially about the trailer. Because it is easy to get flustered about how much room we don't have, how we have to put the toilet paper in the trash because of the sewer line in the ground that has roots in it and it backs up in the trailer and all in the front yard, we have had an electrical fire, we have had multiple water problems, it is a daily struggle to go up & down the stairs everyday, the porch is rotting, etc. But I need to be thankful that we had a roof over our heads that kept us safe and dry.

I am learning to be still & quiet and wait on the Lord. His timing is BEST! It's not been easy having to wait & have patience. It's not fun either. I have to keep telling myself that I trust the Lord, I don't know how you are going to work it all out but I trust that you will.

Please be in prayer & agreement with us about the HUD house. That the Lord will make away where there seems to be no way. That He would give us wisdom about what to do. I know that the Lord wants his children to prosper and have the desires of their hearts. And having a house is what we have desired for a long time. Also pray that Marc would have peace about the whole process.

Thank you for praying and your support. I will keep you updated about things.

PRAYER WARRIORS NEEDED . . .

There is an URGENT prayer requst that I came across. This woman is from Athens, GA and had an AVM bleed like I did. Here is the link to the blog where you can get all the info.

http://3girlsmom23.blogspot.com/2008/04/urgent-need-of-prayer.html

We know that Jesus is no respector of persons, so what he did for me he can do for anyone. Please join in prayer with me and other prayer warriors and lets watch Jesus work . This will be another chance for us to give Jesus all the GLORY! I wait in expectation . . .

Thanks!

Blessings~
Autumn

One in Thousands of Thousands ~ My Miracle Story

Do you believe in MIRACLES? Jesus is still in the Miracle working business today! I am proof of that! Jesus also has a plan & a purpose for everyone. I was always nagging my husband, who is a firefighter/medical first responder, about being gone to all the time to calls,training, and classes. But who would have know that would all come into play on March 4,2004 to help save my live,when I suffered a brain hemmorhage he was able to keep me breathing until EMS got there to help me. Here is My Miracle Story!My desire is that I can help someone else have Hope in Jesus through a tramatic situation.

On March 4, 2004,at the age of 30, I suffered a massive subarachnoid hemorrhage (bleeding between the middle membrane covering of the brain & the brain itself). It was a mess to say the least.

• Marc (husband) found me unconscious on the bed not breathing (without any warning signs that there was something wrong)
• Because I had been so near death my heart started to shut down
• Fluid was filling up in my lungs
• I stopped breathing twice on Marc and he had to help me breath
• My jaws locked down and the paramedics couldn’t get a breathing tube in
• Was life-flighted to St. Mary’s Hospital where one of the Best neurosurgeons (Dr. Kimberly Walpert) was waiting
• Dr. Walpert put a tube in my head to release the blood and relieve the pressure, soon after she inserted the tube; I began to respond. I couldn’t talk because I had the respiratory tube in but the next day I was writing notes and asking all kinds of questions
• Dr. Walpert said "5 more seconds of bleeding and I wouldn’t have made it"
• She said that "I was as close to dead as she’s seen without being dead"
• They said that it was the fastest bleeding kind of brain hemorrhage and it is extremely rare for someone to survive something like this
• It was a miracle that it stopped bleeding and clotted itself off when it did
• If it would have happened 15 minutes earlier, Marc would have been at work and if it would have happened 15 minutes later I would have been driving to pick up our kids from school
• I experienced painful muscle spasms after the drainage tube in my head was removed and as the spinal fluid began to regulate itself, the pressure inside my body became so intense
• I experienced tremendous back pain that the Dr.’s said would subside as the blood dissipated from the spinal fluid
• Due to the hemorrhage, I now have problems with paying attention, concentrating, I’m slow & inefficient, impulsive, forgetful,& confused most of the time. My processing speed has been affected so I process things at a much slower rate
• My main ICU nurse said that he had never seen anything like it, that “I was one in thousands of thousands” They said I would be in ICU for 2-3 weeks and then in a step-down room about that long. They moved me out of ICU in a week and I was at home in less than 2 weeks
• I was supposed to be in the hospital for at least a month if not longer
• through the whole experience all the Dr.’s and nurses were amazed at my recovery
• Although I still had the intense back pain and spasms I knew that God was faithful to complete the GOOD work that he had started.

After 7 months of intense back aches and painful spasms that started to affect my daily activities, Dr. Walpert ordered a MRI and that’s when they found an AVM in my spineAVM- (arteriovenous malformation) is an abnormal tangle of blood vessels in the brain or spine. An AVM can be thought of as a “short circuit” where the blood doesn’t go to the tissues but is pumped through the short connection, artery-vein and back to the heart without ever giving nutrients to the tissues, this arrangement is a problem because it does not give the spinal cord a chance to absorb oxygen form the blood. Spinal tissues are starved of normal amounts of oxygen, and the cells that make up these tissues begin to deteriorate or die off. It also puts the thin walled veins under a lot of pressure. Over time, the veins or the abnormal group of blood (the AVM) may rupture and cause a spinal or brain hemorrhage. (That was the cause of the subarachnoid hemorrhage)Spinal AVM’s occur anywhere along the spinal cord and develop inside the protective dura and close to, on or within the spinal cord. They are believed to be congenital (present at birth), caused by mistakes that occur during embryonic or fetal development. (Just think God protected me through my childhood, it could have ruptured at any time)Death from the first hemorrhage is between 10-30 percent. Once a hemorrhage has occurred, the AVM is 9 times more likely to bleed again during the first year.I was referred to Dr. Barrow; (one of only three) Dr.’s in the country that could do an operation if I needed one. On November 16, 2004, I had an 8 hour operation to remove the mass of tangled blood vessels that were wrapped in my spinal cord. It was a long and painful 3 & ½ months recovery due to the complications from the healing process. I now have a big scar with a lot of scar tissue that has made it painful for me to do the simple things that most people take for granted like walking, sitting, driving, bending, going up & down stairs etc. It has affected all parts of my life and has left me being depressed because I can’t do things with my family that I use to and I’m always in pain. And not to mention all the stress from the medical bills that were over $100,000. But we are CELEBRATING because I am ALIVE! Through the recovery process we learned a lot. We have a lot to be thankful for - we have seen and felt God’s love for us, and we have seen God work in our lives.It has brought me, Marc & the kids closer. We were able to show our kids that God really does have a plan and a purpose for us. Although we had some very difficult times and it was not easy, all the pain and trauma I went through, I wouldn’t change a thing because of what we have learned. I am doing well now and that is a testament to the power of prayer and what a POWERFUL and FAITHFUL God we serve. The Lord worked mightily on my behalf and I am TRULY THANKFUL that He saved me and healed me. THE LORD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS!

Keep Believing in Miracles~
Autumn

*Thanks for reading my story. I hope that it encouraged you*

Savoring Moments of Surrender

This is a devotional that I get from Today God Is First. This really spoke to me today. I have been really struggling with why we keep having all these test & trails. If you are going through the same thing than this will be a really good thing for you to read!



The Door of Full Surrender~
By OS Hillman


Job 23:10 "But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold."
I was recently sitting with the leader of a marketplace organization as he described a question he poses to businesspeople. "What if there were two doors to choose from; behind one door was the complete will of God for your life and behind the other door was how life could be according to your own preference. Which door would you choose?" The struggle for most lies in the desire to follow God completely and the fear of what might be behind the door of full surrender. Most of us desire to follow God, but few of us will do it at any cost. We do not really believe that God loves us to the degree that we are willing to give Him complete permission to do as He wills in us.
If we desire to fully walk with Christ, there is a cost. We may give intellectual assent and go along with His principles and do fine; however, if we are fully given over to Him and His will for our life, it will be a life that will have adversity. The Bible is clear that humans do not achieve greatness without having their sinful will broken. This process is designed to create a nature change in each of us, not just a habit change. The Bible calls it circumcision. Circumcision is painful, bloody, and personal.

If God has plans to greatly use you in the lives of others, you can expect your trials to be even greater than those of others. Why? Because, like Joseph who went through greater trials than most patriarchs, your calling may have such responsibility that God cannot afford to entrust it to you without ensuring your complete faithfulness to the call. He has much invested in you on behalf of others. He may want to speak through your life to a greater degree than through another. The events of your life would become the frame for the message He wants to speak through you.

Do not fear the path that God may lead you on. Embrace it. For God may bring you down a path in your life to ensure the reward of your inheritance. "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Cor. 4:17).