Floods upon Dry Ground--National Day of Prayer

Just a while ago, as Jonathan and I were arriving back in Phoenix from visiting friends, I saw something on Facebook about National Day of Prayer.  

 

As I sat down to post a prayer (because sometimes I can focus better if I am writing a prayer, rather than just burying my head in my chair or even doing a prayer walk), I think of what happened on this Gospel Center property last week. 

Every two weeks, water from the irrigation canals along the streets comes flowing in all over certain parts of town, and property owners go out and open the channel doors at the corners of their properties so the water can flow in and flood the yards. 

The birds were having a blast bathing and wading and whatever birds do when there is water in the yard.

"Lord, I hope my readers will join in this little prayer for our nation.

Our land is dry, Lord, in so many more ways than one. 

Dry as the badlands we travel through to get to Rapid City every so often when I have to fly to Arizona.

Even  many churches no longer have Your Spirit and are caving to the pressure to be unoffensive and supposedly inclusive of precisely what Your Word says is abominable.

Some of those who do stand for what is right are so dry that they are anything but attractive.

We need Your floods upon our dry ground. 

It seems as if darkness is settling, Lord, in our nation and our world, as good is called evil and evil is called good.

I am sorry, Lord, about this. I repent on behalf of our nation.

I am sorry. Please forgive me on behalf of our nation, as I come to You in prayer today.

We have sinned, we have done wrong, as a nation we have done even what is abominable in Your sight with no shame.

But I am ashamed. 

Remember in mercy, I pray, those of us who are heartily ashamed of the sin, the abominations, and the evil that is flaunted and embraced even in the churches of this land. 

Lord, I pray that even yet, good may prevail. That despite everything going on and everything going wrong, You will bring good out of this mess and the mess in so many countries of the world. 

When the darkness darkens, may Your light shine more. 

 

Oh God, Fountain of life, spring up in hearts throughout this land. Come fresh to those Who are seeking You.

May You be found of us who seek You with all our heart and with all our soul. 

Refresh our tired and thirsty spirits with Your presence, Your power, and Your glory.

May the beauty of Your love and grace, Your redemption from sin, be clearly seen and felt in my heart and life, and in the hearts and lives of those in our nation who seek You. 

Send witnesses and preachers to those who haven't heard, even in our nation, so that those who hear may believe in Your Son Jesus and be transformed.  

Oh God, help our struggling, thronging, teaming, crowded, angry, bitter, fearful, addicted, deceitful, wicked, and diseased nation.

Speak to us through the events that are happening, and help us to turn to You and seek Your face. 

Help our president, his cabinet and staff;

our state governors, their cabinets and staff;

each senator and representative and their staff;

every federal and state and local agent;

each Supreme Court member and each member of lower courts and their staffs;

each prosecutor and each lawyer and each defendant;

each first responder;

each businessman, laborer, and each one who is dependent on the welfare system; 

each older person, child, unborn baby, and all in between;

the doctors and nurses and staff;

 the many  families whose children are at the mercy of the public school system sabotaged by twisted and perverted curriculum;

the families who are trying to preserve their families and children by homeschooling or being intently involved.

Undertake about our weather, Lord. You see the devastations recently by tornadoes in the midwest. We pray for those affected.

May there be many who reach out a helping hand in circumstances like these.

Thank You for every caring human heart in our nation. There are many. We are grateful.

Oh, God, reach Your own hand and help us.  

We deserve to be struck by lightning over and over again, and to burn in hell forever and ever.

But we pray for Your mercy to be extended as much and as long as possible until all those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are filled.

Until Your floods have flowed in upon our dry land, refreshing us with new life, new vigor to serve You, and new love for You Whose mercies are new every morning.

Great is Your faithfulness even when we are unfaithful.

Forgive us, Lord. 

Glorify Your name. 

Come Holy Spirit, we need You!

Another Spring Wedding Coming Up

 Another daughter of my sister Dorcas is getting married in just one week--Mercy.

Dorcas's daughter-in-law Salinn hosted a bridal shower with church ladies. I loved this picture Dorcas sent me of her and Mercy.

Here Dorcas is with her little grandson, Jesse and Salinn's boy.  Dorcas had the devotional for the bridal shower. 

Another wedding that already happened was one that our son Tim was invited to in Pennsylvania. Tim had spent months with Chip in Arizona, and was pleased to be invited to Chip's wedding.  

Here Tim is playing games with the boys of my brother Gabriel, with whom Tim stayed while back in PA.

This spring is so full of many happy things. There just isn't time for me to grumble.

This picture above of the tulips is one Pastor Ambrose's wife Mathel sent me on the phone. 

South Dakota tulips!

 

 I want to be grateful all I can, even if it is for just pictures of happy events among my family and friends.

 In a dark world, happy events must be capitalized on and given thanks for!

Happy events like when a daughter makes a pie for someone!

And here is a fruit pizza idea that I accidentally came across recently. I just had to share it.  

Street Corner Prayer in Downtown Phoenix

I have not gotten bored down here in Phoenix for cancer treatments. Not while staying at Gospel Center.  In fact, I'm having a blast. This week was a busy week. Monday and Tuesday were my clinic days. Wednesday and Thursday I edited my next book and sent out flyers about Lemons in January. Thursday was a not-so-good day for me. It was the second day after herceptin, and I usually feel worst two or three days after that dose. Thursday and Friday was regional IHC held here at the church, so since I'm staying in the little house on the grounds, I attended.

Friday afternoon street evangelist Rodney Keister took a group with him straight into the heart of downtown Phoenix to set up a Prayer spot on a street corner. Since I was feeling better that day, one of that group was I, if you can find me smack dab in the middle of the photo (taken by a tall passerby that a Rev. Rodney somebody--I forget his last name-- asked to take the picture for us).

Each of us wore a bright red vest. On the back and front both, they read, "Prayer changes things."

No sooner had we set up a couple things like this Bible verse stand and a little microphone and speaker than a tall, dark dude came up to me. 

"I saw your sign," he said, "and I need prayer."

I quickly led him to the minister who was along, who asked him what his need was, and prayed about the homelessness the man and his family were experiencing. I joined in the prayer. The minister got plenty of gospel in the prayer as well as asking God to provide for the man's needs!

Rev. Keister had us split up into teams. One of the pastor's daughters and I went across the street while Rev. Castle and the other minister walked up and down the streets around, something they felt was more effective and less intimidating.The first man Rev. Castle talked to tried to convert him to Islam!

On our corner, we had an interesting conversation with a Catholic man who was sure that no matter what you believed, as long as you believed in God and prayed, you would get to heaven. 

"I pray to the rosary," he said. 

"We believe that we can pray straight to Jesus," I replied.

 

 

Here above was a precious scene. Someone came along and needed prayer across the way. Our team got a picture of two team members praying with the person who is behind Rodney Keister in the picture. The pastor's little boy is wearing a prayer vest, too, even though it is a little too big! LOL! :) :)

Meanwhile on our corner, we were giving out gospel tracts to as many people as would accept them.  I had some interesting encounters, but the highlight of my day was just before Rev. Keister waved to us to come on back over so we could head home.

Up behind me and the two pastor's daughters came a bicyclist. 

"I saw your signs," he said. "I need prayer. My mother passed one hour ago!"

I talked to him just for a moment, asked his name, which was Joseph, and then the girls and I prayed with him. I asked God to send the comfort that he and his family needed, the help they needed with making arrangements, and so on. I asked that during this time, God would draw his heart to Him, and that he would seek the Lord. When I finished, his eyes were wet with tears. I promised we would pray again for him later, and he was grateful.

There was a very deep sense that God had directed us to the middle of Phoenix for someone. Perhaps it was the homeless man, or the others the teams prayed for. Perhaps Joseph was that someone. 

I know nothing about his mother, or even Joseph's last name. But God does. God had us there in that moment on a street corner to pray for a man who was grieving and felt lost and knew he needed prayer. 

We discussed things in the minivan on the way home. Maybe we made some mistakes, but we can learn from mistakes. We don't learn anything about witnessing and sharing Christ if we are so afraid of making mistakes that we hide inside our four walls and never go out anywhere. Friday afternoon we tried something new--street prayer/evangelism. We talked to some people, gave tracts to many, and prayed with several. 

And all that we did there we put in God's hands.

And my heart was thrilled. 

She Was on a Diverted Plane on 9/11

 Thursday afternoon I decided to do a little shopping for the weekend, and as I drove along through unfamiliar Phoenix traffic to the tune of my GPS, I found myself asking God to lead me to a hungry heart today. And then I forgot about it. 

But in Frys Grocery store, as I was hunting for a baking item, I came upon another lady in the aisle. Actually, she came upon me, for I was duly minding my own business only to have this lady ask me for a little help. She was wanting a smaller package of self-rising flour, but couldn't find one.  As I tried to help her look, I couldn't help noticing her brightly-colored, Eastern-style robe, headdress and all. When I curiously asked where she was from, she said Ethiopia. She has been here in America twenty years, she said, more like twenty-three. She came over on 9/11, she said, that very bad day. She was 6 months pregnant, didn't know any English, and her airplane (from Germany, as I understood it) got rerouted to Canada that day. All around her on that stuck airplane, people were standing in the aisles, watching television, speaking English, for 18 hours, she said, but poor her. She could not understand anything. How miserable!

Her face was so bright that I accidentally asked if she was a Christian. I don't know why I asked that. I should have known, but I did not. Her face registered shock.

"I am Muslim!" she explained, and from there launched into her belief in Allah. I told her that I believed in God, and she said it was the same God, Allah. I reiterated I believed in God and that Jesus is the Son of God. She allowed that Jesus, Isa, is a prophet. Some of what she said was so fast it was a garble to me, but we both agreed that we believed God created us. I wasn't led to say more, except to simply relate in kindness on a human level.

I told her that I had a baby one month old on that fateful day, my fourth child, and that she was getting married now. This lady has three boys, the youngest 18. None married either. It sounded like her oldest is thirty and maybe has a girlfriend in Ethiopia but can't get back there without waiting two or three years. Unless it's she who can't get here. Because of the war, the lady sighed.

As we parted ways, I wished her God's blessing and she turned around to ask my name.  Wish I had known how to say things better, but sometimes just being loving says a lot. 

Sometimes all we can do is plant a seed. 

But what a special thing to happen--to get to meet someone who had been in one of those airplanes that got diverted 23 years ago on 9/11!

 

Star Quilt--and Fresh Courage for Tomorrow

Saturday morning our pastor and his wife dropped in. They knew I was supposed to be flying out again to Arizona and wanted to bring a birthday gift for Jonathan and me, since we would be gone over my birthday.

A star quilt! I was in awe! Such beautiful pastel colors! It was such a surprise! The pastor and his wife up the hill have so taken us into their hearts ever since they discovered I had cancer just like their son that they lost to cancer last summer. Mrs. Ambrose often calls me to keep in touch, share prayer requests, or let me know what is going on in the community.

Earlier that morning, Mrs. Ambrose had called me to share a verse of a hymn that she had just read that morning in Our Daily Bread. 

"Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take. 

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy and shall break

In blessing on your head."

"That is from the hymn, 'God Moves in a Mysterious Way," she added. 

"God moves in a mysterious way,

His wonders to perform.

He plants His footsteps on the sea

And rides upon the storm."

I am reminded of the eclipse that several of my siblings and families were able to observe a couple weeks ago.

 Just because the moon shadowed the sun and all became as dark as dusk in some places did not mean the sun wasn't there--or that the sun would not shine again. 

 Day after day, not knowing what the future holds, we hold God's hand.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow and take fresh courage. The clouds we so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessing on our head!

Sacredness of Ordinary Work

Recently while I was waiting for a flight in an airport, I discovered this book title in the gift shop. 

The Sacredness of Secular Work: 4 Ways Your Job Matters for Eternity (Even When You're Not Sharing the Gospel). 

It intrigued me. After spending many years of my youth and young adulthood being trained that there is a huge difference between "serving the Lord full time" and "secular work," I have come to different conclusions.  There is a difference, yes, but only in certain aspects.

I have come to the conclusion that a 17-year-old boy can bring as much glory to God by milking an ornery goat in his parents' garage in the cold of early spring as he can by practicing preaching at a local church or singing in the youth choir.

A man who has been released from prison can be doing just as sacred a work fastening up drywall in a parsonage on the reservation as if he were testifying a fancy testimony of redemption in church.

A mom who would rather be writing missionary books can be doing a sacred work ironing her husband's hankies and Sunday pants and her own cotton blouses.

And mending a hem that is falling out--because who wants to get up in front at church with one's hem hanging out? It is just as spiritual to sit at the sewing machine as to sit in church listening to the Sunday evening message.

  

It is just as spiritual for a husband to lift the new washer on top of a drawer he bought with it for his wife and then get down on his knees to adjust it as it is to get down on one's knees to pray.

May we never forsake the assembling of ourselves together on the Lord's Day to merely shop for lumber, but may we always remember that, having been faithful to church, Bible reading, prayer, and other means of grace, we are doing the will of God to be going down a list in Menards or tying down a load of materials for the next work project. 

Trucking to save money toward one's future of serving the Lord in whatever capacity He calls is a worthy cause, as Tim is doing, who is hauling all sorts of loads this month now that logging has come to somewhat of a standstill for the season.

Working industriously at a sawmill to earn some extra money toward a home and property is just as spiritual as giving the shirt off one's back to the missionary offering or to a homeless man shivering in the cold.  It will take work to keep from being a homeless person begging on the street corner.

Gratefully enjoying a beautiful bridal shower gift from a sweet cousin is just as sacred as rejoicing in the Lord in an emotional service in church. 

Even playing volleyball with friends and relatives is a good thing if done for the glory of God. "All work and no play" makes Tom, Dick, and Harry dull boys, to say nothing of girls.

From my mom a while back

"Here is a hymn that I happened to turn to a couple days ago.  It was written especially for a mid-day prayer service in an English city.  But it fits us anywhere ."

   Behold us, Lord, a little space
   From daily tasks set free,
And met within thy holy place
   To rest awhile with Thee.
 
Around us rolls the ceaseless tide
   Of business, toil, and care,
And scarcely can we turn aside
   For one brief hour of prayer.
 
Yet these are not the only walls
   Wherein Thou mayst be sought;
On homeliest work Thy blessing falls,
    In truth and patience wrought.
 
Thine is the loom, the forge, the mart,
   The wealth of land and sea,
The worlds of science and of art,
   Revealed and ruled by Thee.
 
Then let us prove our heavenly birth
   In all we do and know,
And claim the kingdom of the earth
   For Thee and not Thy foe.
 
Work shall be prayer, if all be wrought
   As thou wouldst have it done;
And prayer, by Thee inspired and taught,
   Itself with work be one.  Amen.
 
John Ellerton, 1826-1893
Tune: DUNFERMLINE CM
         Scottish Psalter 1615

Baby Quilts--When Life Goes to Pieces, Make Quilts.

A week and a half ago, Jonathan and I ended up in another state to attend a revival/healing service Sunday evening after being asked to speak at another church in the morning about our work with Society of Indian Missions. Old friends offered for us to stay with them Saturday  night, and what a pleasant time we had together! Dennis, Gail, and their daughter had traveled to Ukraine to help with some mission projects when we were living in an apartment in Kiev about 30 years ago.

What fun it was to reminisce about those days!

Later Gail's brother-in-law came to visit, with Gail's sister. Jerry had also made a couple trips to Ukraine, the first one way back even before Jonathan and I went over. He was over there during the tent meeting from which blossomed the church and Bible College we were involved with. Then he made a second trip where he noticed that one of the missionaries there was wearing a beard.

That was probably Jonathan!

Dennis cooked Saturday evening meal and Sunday dinner while we were there, careful to make only what I could eat!

How I blessed his and Gail's hearts! It was the best meals I'd had in ages. 

Baked chicken, sweet potatoes, raw make-your-own salad, steamed brussels sprouts, sourdough bread. 

Sunday dinner added baked salmon, strawberries, and steamed broccoli, including the "trunk" [stem] as his granddaughter liked to call it. 

Gail showed me the baby items she and the ladies of her church are making for a baby shower that a local pro-life organization is putting on for expectant mothers. 

She showed me one baby quilt after another that she is making.  

Her machine sews this Bible verse onto the quilt.

So cute!

And here we've folded the quilts back up. 

Burp rags sewn so cutely. 

 "When life goes to pieces," I've read, "make quilts."

The weekend we spent with our friends just after Rose's bridal shower was one of those quilt blocks of a life that has gone somewhat to pieces because of cancer. But despite that, we find God's grace to sew up the pieces and believe God to make something beautiful out of our lives!