Prayer

Do any of you have any Prayer Warriors in your life? I can honestly say 'My Man' and I have a whole slew of them... We are truly blessed beyond measure! Our Prayer Warriors have prayed us through some of the best days of our life, down to the darkest, saddest days of our life! They have walked with us in the "high times" , and have even pulled us out of "ditches" that we found ourselves stuck in! One of my favorite Prayer Warriors is known in my home church as 'Doctor Bob'! 'Doctor Bob' doesn't have a degree or a PhD. Infact, he is just an average man- he is a child of God, a husband, a father, and a grandpa. He is a deacon, a bible study leader, a tech/sound guy, he is a PILLAR in the church!!-simply because he grounds his life in the Word and PRAYER!!!! 'My Man' and I pray one day that we will be half the life-changer that he is! Did I mention that 'Doctor Bob' also owns a TV store-he is the only human I know that can take a conversation on "TV'S" and turn it into something about being "Born Again"?! Who knew there was ever a Evangelical TV salesman, named 'Doctor Bob' without a PhD!?!? If you can't tell this guy has changed our lives forever. He has discipled us throughout our Faith Journey, and has discipled me prior! One of my favorite lessons that God used, 'Doctor Bob' to teach us was on Prayer! This lesson came via text! You read my blog correctly, this grayhaired man can text! 'My Man' always says 'Doctor Bob' teaches in riddles!- Most of the time the text contain such wise information, I am to stupid to understand!~Thank God I have 'My Man' to help me! The lesson on Prayer is a prime example of my "Stupid Sheep-ness". He had us read Matt 26:36-75. Now I am going to point out a few of the many gems that we found while reading these Scriptures. So, it would probably be best if you read them first before reading the rest of my blog. I by no means want to butcher these Scriptures for you! I love how in verse 39 it tells us that Jesus fell on His face to the ground and PRAYED!~How often do I fall on my face to the ground and pray when my "soul is overwhelmed"? Not near enough that is for sure! Verse 41 caught my eye BIG time, "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."(NIV) I also love how Jesus goes and prays three times total, and everytime He comes back the disciples are SLEEPING!!! That really cracks me up!! I LOL everytime I read this passage!! God doesn't need us to pray! It is for our benefit! Just like the disciples, He didn't need them to pray either, but He knew it would be for their benefit! Jesus knew they would choose to SLEEP instead of praying! I wonder how different the outcome would have been if they chose to PRAY? Would they have been so quick to deny Jesus? Would they have acted like cowards and abandoned Him? Did they recognize Jesus was trying to teach them that PRAYER is KEY??? If we sleep like they did- we allow they enemy to gain victory! We become like the disciples- weak, scared, not bold in our beliefs, water-down Truth, play on the enemy's team, etc. It is easy to point fingers at the disciples, however I am a lot like them! So often the Spirit will warn me of what is about to happen and who and what to watch out for; Yet I still fall into the traps! I am sure I have missed out on many gems that were just for me, left by the King, solely because of my wrong choices! My goal is to make sure I am daily choosing to PRAY and not SLEEP!

~FOIL~

'My Man' and I have been on this cRaZy, Faith Journey for over a year now! It has been the wildest ride I have ever been on, to say the least!!! I will never forget the day 'My Man' told me that God was calling us to Florida! We were sitting in my Jeep, on his lunch break when he was brave enough to break the news! I thought he was joking!...He had to be kidding right? How could this be? We were in a season when everything was smooth sailing.. we had a nice home, stable jobs in an unstable economy, ministry in a sweet little church, we lived close to family--the same town I lived in my WHOLE life! I always thought it would be neat to live near the beach, but actually moving there was a completely different thing! The look in 'My Man's' eyes gave it away...He was not kidding after all! SO, a month later we were packing, having yard sales, and saying good-byes! We loaded "My Man's' truck up and off we went, knowing God had SOMETHING for us in Florida...but unsure what that SOMETHING would be! This was the beginning of our Faith Journey! The Journey has had it's share of ups and downs, that I will tell about in days to come, but for now I'm going to share a story that God uses on a regular basis to remind me of His amazing love!
God's timing is PERFECT, however I have wrestled with Him on this very thing! He called us in my opinion, one of the worst TIMES of all, considering the job market is terrible! It has taken us forevvvvvvverrrr to get settled, to find a home, a JOB, you name it! With this comes the obvious...we have struggled financially since the day we left our home! One day in the middle of our "Broke-ness" and waiting on God to reveal what exactly He had for us here, I had one of my MANY temper-tantrums to God! They were the usual.."Why did YouCall us here?" "What are You doing?" "Where are You?" "We can't even hardly buy food, gas, everyday neccessities! So what are YOU DOINGGGGGGG?!!!?!" I have this routine of always putting foil on my baking pans every time I bake something in the oven..I'm really not sure why I do that, it is just something I have always done! After my meltdown, I went to the cabinet to get the foil down so I could make dinner and noticed I was out of foil! Well at this time we barely had money to buy necessities, let alone foil! So, I went about my day pouting because of our circumstance! All day God kept telling me it was going to be okay..that He had it all undercontrol, that He loved me beyond measure! 'My Man' came home from his hotel job not long after and he walks in with all kinds of stuff! You see, the hotel has a policy if guest leave stuff in the rooms, you are allowed to take it home if they have checked out!!(execpt valuables and such..OBVIOUSLY) Guess what one of the things in his hand was??? FOIL!!!! Talk about a God of detail!! Only HE knew I really wished we had foil!! Now, I know life would have went on with out foil!! But God used something as simple as FOIL to remind me of how much He loved me! 1 John 3:1 says, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.." He used foil as a way to show me how much He LAVISHES love on me! It isn't just a sprinkle here and there...He POURS IT, and POURS IT, and POURS it! SO thankful He has it all under control! He knows the things I need and want, even down to the things I leave unspoken!!!!