I Still Marvel at God's Mysterious Ways

Labor Day in the USA is all but over. It's been a day spent with my immediate family so far. (And I am grateful.)

Today, we went with our daughter and son-in-law to look at vehicles. They need transportation. (Don't we all?)

Anyway, if you've ever visited car lots trying to find the right ride, you are familiar with the stress. Our day was that way. (But God was in it all.)

While we were closing the sale, we learned that the salesman and his bride were married by my brother in Lynchburg, Virginia. It was a God-thing. (Yet, it gets better,)

After we finally sealed the deal and we were literally leaving the showroom (following a stranger-than-life-Twilight-Zone experience in the Finance and Insurance office), I heard a tender voice saying, "Pastor Kerry". It warmed the heart in this old worn-out body of mine.

The lady calling my name was a sales lady at the dealership. She had passed me several times but I had not realized that I actually knew her. 

As we talked, I immediately recognized who she was. A few years ago I met her and prayed for and comforted her in the painful passing of her young, beloved son, following a house fire. Her pain was so deep, and still is. 

Right there at the exit of the car store, I enveloped her weak, trembling frame in a strong holy hug. Tears came into her eyes. Mine, too. I knew immediately that my whole day of helping my family members shop for cars... sacredly boiled down... to that solitary embrace of a young mom, still grieving the absence of her lost boy.

While I don't pretend to comprehend the loss of a young mother's son in such a seemingly tragic way, I do still marvel at God's mysterious ways. His detail in the timing of our lives, to help others, humbles me beyond words.

Afterwards our family of five went to the Japanese Restaurant for supper. Even though the fire of the Hibachi grill was undeniably hot, it didn't come close in comparing to the holy spiritual temperature that my heart aflame felt as The Lord chose to comfort that single, precious, broken mother through the likes of my spontaneous embrace. Was it a God-appointment? I am assured of it!

Please pray that hope ignited within her soul, too. I choose to believe it did. Amen.

Grateful

The Sender of the Snow

We are experiencing our first substantial snowfall of the season. The local forecast is calling for 2-5 inches of accumulation but that may be a little conservative?

There's something mysterious and marvelous about the first snowfall of the year. It tends to slow us down a bit and causes us to remember that we are not the ones who are really in control. The Sender of the Snow is.

He does great things which we cannot comprehend.
For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’...
-- Job 37:5b-6a (NKJV)

Fresh fallen snow reminds us of purity. Under a fresh blanket of snowflakes, the world seems almost innocent. As I sit here by the window in the soft glow of our decorated Fraser Fir Christmas tree, the snow is still coming down. It's as if time is standing still. And it seems I can faintly hear voices throughout the ages singing that familiar, sacred, and beloved hymn of the holy days:

Silent Night, Holy Night,
All is Calm, All is Bright.

Thank you Lord, Oh Great Sender of the Snow. Thanks for being in control and for proving it most undeniably by being the Sender of Your Son. Long before today's snowfall arrived to bring a blanket of purity to the landscape, Your Son arrived, was wrapped in a blanket, to purify our lives from sin. As time seems to stand still, I give thanks for the silence, the holiness, the calmness, and the brightness of Your amazing love. It is all quite mysterious, but even more marvelous. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

ALL JOY TO YOUR WORLD!
Grateful

My Prayer Request Especially Today...

My prayer request especially today and even day-after-day resides in the mysterious and marvelous depths of this New Testament verse of Holy Scripture:

For, "Who can know what the Lord is thinking?
Who can give Him counsel?"
But we can understand these things,
for we have the mind of Christ.
-- 1 Corinthians 2:16 (NLT)

Lord, my prayer especially today is that I would know Your mind in all things. Within my thinking, give me Your Counsel at all times by the undeniable, indwelling, purifying presence of Your Precious Holy Spirit. My prayer will be the same tomorrow. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

I Fall To My Knees And Pray...

Today, as "I Fall To My Knees And Pray" I invite you to do the same. Seriously, go ahead right where you are, yes, if you're able and you want to, right now, just physically get on your knees.

Take a few moments just to allow your heart, mind, and soul to spiritually breathe.

Now, let's pray together the Apostle Paul's prayer from Ephesians 3:14-19 (NLT). I will pray the prayer for you and you pray it for me. It is really a prayer of blessing:

(14) When I think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, (15) the Creator of everything in Heaven and on earth. (16) I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will give you mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit. (17) And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in Him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. (18) And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is. (19) May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Seasons of Great Struggle

You have seen me suffer for Him in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of this great struggle.
-- The Apostle Paul's Testimony in Philippians 1:30 (NLT)

Without doubt, God allows those who wear His name to be fastened to seasons of great struggle in their lives. But let us never forget that the same mysterious God who brings forth the beauty of the butterfly (only because of its season of great struggle from the cocoon) surely knows that seasons of great struggle will likewise bring out the most marvelous of colors in our lives.

Lord, have mercy on us especially during seasons of great struggle. Give us grace to pray, trust, and wait on You for release from whatever seasons of great struggle you have ordered in our lives. Give us confidence in knowing that You, our Greatest God, will be our Greater Strength in Seasons of Great Struggle. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful