Category: Living By Grace

Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff. She was standing on a ledge where she was taking a breather during this, her first rock climb.

She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she may find her contact lens.

 When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains. She thought of the bible verse "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth."

She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."
      
Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?"
 
Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying it!

The story doesn't end there. Brenda's father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."

I think it would do all of us some good to say, "God, I don't know why You want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if You want me to carry it, I will."

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called!

Yes, I do  love GOD. He is my source of existence and my Savior. He keeps me functioning
each and every day Without Him, I am nothing, but with Him….I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

(Phil. 4:13)

 This is a simple test. If you love GOD and are not ashamed of all the marvelous things He has done for you, send this to ten people and the person who sent it to you.
———————————————————————-
         "You Gave Me A Mountain"

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.  The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully purified?"
The silversmith smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy — when I see my image in it, it is pure".

If today you are feeling the trials of life (the heat of the fire), remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He can see His image in you.

And, whatever fires you're going through, you'll be a better person in the end if you submit to the will of The Lord and allow yourself to become a reflection of His image.

I was also drawn to, and later convicted to, homeschool my children. God blessed me with seven children, and gave me a Biblical responsibility to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I live in Texas, and at the time I started homeschooling, the Texas Education Agency made a bureaucratic policy decision to make home education illegal. Homeschoolers didn't have a leg to stand on in court except for religious conviction. I made a conscious choice to disobey civil authority in order to obey my Supreme Authority. Many brave Texas mothers risked jail sentences for teaching their own children. By the grace of God, I have been homeschooling for 23 years.  

In 1993 I began to notice weakness in my upper arms. The weakness began to spread to other parts of my body. I finally saw a doctor about it in 1999. What followed was over a year of harrowing tests, nightmarish procedures, and flesh-scarring biopsies before a diagnosis was made in 2001. Imagine the poor doctor who had to inform a mother with seven young children- four of them under the age of seven- that she had muscular dystrophy, an incurable and progressive disease, and had a 30% chance of living her life in a wheelchair.  

I died that day- died and then rose again. I have learned to play the hand I was dealt. I had to make a choice. Do I spend the rest of my life living? Or do I spend it dying? Like Joshua in the Old Testament, I chose that day Whom I would serve, and I chose to live. I learned to find the joy in the midst of suffering. I learned to find the positive among the black clouds of negativity. I am learning, at present, how to love myself. Being dealt that card was one of the best things that ever happened to me.  

I became a student on a relentless search for a cure that, so far, hasn't been found. I came to a website called Curezone and found love, acceptance, and a lot of great health information. I met Tony Isaacs there, and later, Ben Taylor. Now I get to meet you.  

Spend your life living and not dying. Find the joy in life. Let go and have fun. Life is beautiful. Allow 2008 to be your year to begin life anew.