April 17, 2005

• Well, Katherine and I had a very profitable weekend selling Girl Scout cookies for our troop. We had a booth sale with the girls of the troop in a local mall, but the cookies were not selling, and then she and I stood in front of a store. We had 15 cases of cookies, and I honestly did not want to carry that many that we had left up and down stairs, she graciously helped me yesterday, and today another girl from our troop and Katherine did very well outside our local Mobile station. We are down to less than 36 boxes of cookies (3 cases), and managed to get all of the extra cookies from our troop cookie sale sold as well. This money goes into the troop kitty and will be used for trips, badges, etc.

  
  

  Katherine got her hamster (like we need another pet in the house) it is brown and white and female, Katherine is sorting out names for hamsters. I am happy to hear any suggestions you may have.

  
  

  Regarding your prayers for Jim, I had an awful night last night listening to his breathing, I got up and laid hands on him and prayed while he was asleep, was lead to pray Ephesians 1 over him, and kept praying. Did not sleep much. This morning he hinted that maybe he might go and see the doctor and get prescriptions. I am not commenting too much, but let him know that that would relieve a lot of anxiety on my part. And told him that if he worked with the doctor to get off the pills, I would support that, but that I wanted him under a doctor’s care. Of course, until he goes to the doctor, I need prayers, and more prayers and more prayers. And I hope I do not say anything to cause him to change his mind. I love this man so much, it tears me apart to see him doing stupid things like this.

  
  

  Thank you for your kind comments about my last bit of history. It is an awesome work of God that I got saved, and the one thought that I wanted to emphasize was that Pastor Don spent two years talking with me. Sometimes on these sites I see people saying something, and a person does not receive it, and after a few tries, they sort of throw up their internet hands and wash their hands of the person, figuring they just don’t hear the truth. If pastor Don had done that with me, I wouldn’t be saved today. I cannot tell you how many hours of his precious time he invested in talking with me, listening to me, planting a seed here and there, watering it a few weeks later. It took a very long time for me to come to see my need for a savior, but his patience was there. He says the Holy Spirit told him to stick with me, and for that I am so grateful, (for sake of a bit of a pun) eternally grateful.

  
  

  And I wish I could say my path once I got saved was smooth, that faith grew, and I became so sure in Christ. I once asked Pastor Don why my faith seemed to grow miniscule grain of sand by miniscule grain of sand. I had seen some who seemed to instantly sprout faith, and seem so strong in their faith. He told me that sometimes (and this is not always) faith seems to grow quickly, but when a trial comes, the ground under the faith is not solid and the person falls away. Sometimes people are strong in their faith and stay there. And Pastor Don told me that my faith, because it seems to be taking time to grow will be solid, and it will help me to remember to have patience with others as their faith develops. I hope he is right, because there are times when my patience is wearing thin, such as with this Jim situation.

  
  

  I have been reading Mark 11 and 12 over the weekend. And a teaching I heard once came to mind. That the passover lamb was tested for four days to make sure there was no blemish on the lamb. With Jesus four aspects of his life were tested by the questioning of the scribes and Pharisees, His authority (Mark 11:27-33) where he expertly evaded the trap of whose authority he was under. Then Jesus indirectly answers them by the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers in Mark 12, and the scribes and Pharisess get the point. Then they examine Jesus’ integrity, with the question of paying taxes. Either answer could have gotten him in trouble, to pay or not to pay. Jesus expertly answered that one. Then they questioned his theology when the Sadduces asked about Resurrection. Jesus used their own text to answer them (for they only dealt with the first five book of the Old Testament), and he pointed out that when God came to Moses, God said I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He did not say, I WAS, God rest their souls. He spoke in the present tense. I AM implies that He is and was and will be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So the idea of resurrection was answered within their own text, and Jesus accused them of not reading their Word. Then they questioned Jesus’ priority,and Jesus answered their question of what was the most important commandment. And he reduced all their laws down to two commandments, and upon them all the laws hinged.

  
  

  What was cool is that in Mark 12:34 it says “…But after that no one dared question Him.” They knew he would defeat them.

  
  

  Now then Jesus turns the tables and questions them and they fall short.

  
  

  They are so concerned about outward pretense that they have lost their relationship with God, they could not answer the question Jesus posed about David calling Him Lord, and then how is he his Son.

  
  

  And he pointed out the  Widow’s two mites. For it is not just the giving that is important, but how the giving is done. The Widow gave from her heart, and from her poverty. Her gift was a gift of love, not of the letter of the law.

  
  

  It always blows me away how often they tried to trap Jesus. The mere fact that this supposedly untrained carpenter from a small town knew the Word so well should have impacted them. The fact of all of His miracles should have provided a clue. Yet they were so jealous that they set out to destroy the best gift God gave them.
  

  
  

  I know that I too turned away from this gift for so long, and I am just so grateful that God kept pursuing me, and did not give up on me.

  
  

  Hope you are having a great weekend,

  
  

  Heather

  • 8:08 pm
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