Week of May 31
“Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, and serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.” Romans 12:11-12
Often I felt troubled by what was going on with my life, my husband’s situation, our daughter’s uncertainty and our parents’ care needs. I wondered what it was all about and whether I would ever have any calm or control in my life. It seemed that as soon as one situation got better another obligation became more onerous.
I began to pray that God would show us what to do and make our way clear. Often, late at night, I affirmed: God is my help in every need. God does my every hunger feed.
I reminded myself what the Prophet wrote:
“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Then suddenly, in one day, the way became crystal clear in a matter of hours. At 11:00 a.m., Gary called with the wonderful news that he had been offered a job he had applied for many months before in Florida!
As I was wondering how and when to tell my employer and friends the news, I was called to an unscheduled meeting and was promptly laid off, but with severance pay. My head still spinning, I called my daughter, in her senior year in college, to tell her the news. She had informed us several months earlier that she would not be looking for a job near us after graduation. When I told her the news she said, “I am coming with you!”
Within the next few weeks the following occurred:
•I was able to rent an apartment that allowed dogs, was convenient, and had major appliances—from the first phone number picked from the newspaper.
•Our house sold in a matter of weeks.
•We found a new house in Florida in the first week.
While there are still more changes to come, we don’t doubt that all things work together for good, in God’s time, and often situations that to normal human understanding are negative clear the way for good. Because of how these events unfolded, we feel confident that we are where we are supposed to be, and that none of these things came about “by coincidence.” The presence of God watches over us wherever we are, and His timing is awesome.
Janet Clinton
Miami, Florida
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Jenelle's Experience
Week of May 24
The economy was collapsing, I had lost my job and my previous employer was laying people off. I applied for a job with the Census Bureau.
In the spring I was trained and sent out as a pre-census canvasser. I was working a familiar neighborhood when a former acquaintance came out to say hello. She walked with me as I made my way around the block always canvassing to the right.
She told me she had lost her husband in November and felt lonely and lost. Its hard for her to get around and she has to take the bus to get anywhere. She didn’t have a car and she doesn’t drive.
I said why didn’t you call me and she said she didn’t want to bother people.
“Don’t feel bad asking for help, I told Lois,"that’s why God put us on earth to help one another. He would have stopped at one if he didn’t mean for us to take care of each other. Besides, when you ask someone for help you are actually doing them a favor because it makes them feel needed and wanted. It gives them a purpose.”
We continued walking around the block and then she went her way and I went mine. I didn’t think much of it.I had given her my number and figured I was on her call list.
The next day I was canvassing across the street. I parked in a driveway of a house I new to be empty and proceeded to walk the block.
Someone drives up in a van with Lois in it. She flagged me down and said she was on her way to the emergency room, she said she had chest pains. The man driving the van was with Jehovah Witness who said “he felt the need” to stop by her house that day. He didn’t know why he just knew he had to drop by.
He walked in the door and took one look at her and asked what’s wrong. He had driven her to a walk in clinic and the people there said to take her to the emergency room. He said he had other engagements and couldn’t stay with her, could I?
I said I would finish this block and meet them in the ER.
When I arrived she was sitting there alone, feeling anxious with pains both in the chest and back. I became her hand-holder. We chatted and I learned her family lived mostly in Minnesota. I said once she was admitted I would call them and let them know her situation. She called a neighbor, who was like an adopted daughter, and asked if she would come down.
The doctors came by and said her EKG and other tests were normal and they felt it wasn’t a heart attack and that made her feel better. When her neighbor arrived she seemed agitated and more upset than the situation called for and I didn’t understand why. By this time it was nearly 7 P.M. and Lois was getting hungry so I left her with her neighbor and went out to get some food.
I brought her some chicken soup and a turkey sandwich which seemed to hit the spot. When they finally found her a bed the neighbor and I accompanied her to her room.
Later when the medical staff came in for another test the neighbor and I waited out in the hall. I was the first time we were together without Lois.
It was then that the neighbor told me Lois’s adult son passed away in Minnesota that afternoon. It was out of the blue. He had had a ski mobile accident months before and had been in rehab and seemed to be healing. Apparently a blood clot broke loose from somewhere and lodged in his heart.
Her neighbor was distraught. How could she tell Lois under the circumstances. She shared the mews with the medical staff who suggested waiting until the next day when all the tests would be back.
When I returned home that evening I found a card in the mail from my sister. The card had a picture of a steaming cup of coffee and it read: “Good morning this is God. I will be handling all your problems today, I will not need your help…so have a good day. Love God.”
I took Lois this card and some flowers the next morning. She hadn’t been told yet. Later on, when all her tests came back ok ,the doctor told her about her son.
I believe God wanted her to be somewhere safe before she received the news. He even had me deliver her a card.
How else do you explain my reconnecting with Lois when I did, The Jehovah Witness
man being urged to call on Lois,the mysterious pains that coincited with the son's death miles away, and the card with those uncanny words "from God."
God did take care of Lois that day and has since. As I share this Lois is visiting her family in Minnessota and when she returns I will pick her up at the airport.
Jenelle Pullin
Venice, Florida
The economy was collapsing, I had lost my job and my previous employer was laying people off. I applied for a job with the Census Bureau.
In the spring I was trained and sent out as a pre-census canvasser. I was working a familiar neighborhood when a former acquaintance came out to say hello. She walked with me as I made my way around the block always canvassing to the right.
She told me she had lost her husband in November and felt lonely and lost. Its hard for her to get around and she has to take the bus to get anywhere. She didn’t have a car and she doesn’t drive.
I said why didn’t you call me and she said she didn’t want to bother people.
“Don’t feel bad asking for help, I told Lois,"that’s why God put us on earth to help one another. He would have stopped at one if he didn’t mean for us to take care of each other. Besides, when you ask someone for help you are actually doing them a favor because it makes them feel needed and wanted. It gives them a purpose.”
We continued walking around the block and then she went her way and I went mine. I didn’t think much of it.I had given her my number and figured I was on her call list.
The next day I was canvassing across the street. I parked in a driveway of a house I new to be empty and proceeded to walk the block.
Someone drives up in a van with Lois in it. She flagged me down and said she was on her way to the emergency room, she said she had chest pains. The man driving the van was with Jehovah Witness who said “he felt the need” to stop by her house that day. He didn’t know why he just knew he had to drop by.
He walked in the door and took one look at her and asked what’s wrong. He had driven her to a walk in clinic and the people there said to take her to the emergency room. He said he had other engagements and couldn’t stay with her, could I?
I said I would finish this block and meet them in the ER.
When I arrived she was sitting there alone, feeling anxious with pains both in the chest and back. I became her hand-holder. We chatted and I learned her family lived mostly in Minnesota. I said once she was admitted I would call them and let them know her situation. She called a neighbor, who was like an adopted daughter, and asked if she would come down.
The doctors came by and said her EKG and other tests were normal and they felt it wasn’t a heart attack and that made her feel better. When her neighbor arrived she seemed agitated and more upset than the situation called for and I didn’t understand why. By this time it was nearly 7 P.M. and Lois was getting hungry so I left her with her neighbor and went out to get some food.
I brought her some chicken soup and a turkey sandwich which seemed to hit the spot. When they finally found her a bed the neighbor and I accompanied her to her room.
Later when the medical staff came in for another test the neighbor and I waited out in the hall. I was the first time we were together without Lois.
It was then that the neighbor told me Lois’s adult son passed away in Minnesota that afternoon. It was out of the blue. He had had a ski mobile accident months before and had been in rehab and seemed to be healing. Apparently a blood clot broke loose from somewhere and lodged in his heart.
Her neighbor was distraught. How could she tell Lois under the circumstances. She shared the mews with the medical staff who suggested waiting until the next day when all the tests would be back.
When I returned home that evening I found a card in the mail from my sister. The card had a picture of a steaming cup of coffee and it read: “Good morning this is God. I will be handling all your problems today, I will not need your help…so have a good day. Love God.”
I took Lois this card and some flowers the next morning. She hadn’t been told yet. Later on, when all her tests came back ok ,the doctor told her about her son.
I believe God wanted her to be somewhere safe before she received the news. He even had me deliver her a card.
How else do you explain my reconnecting with Lois when I did, The Jehovah Witness
man being urged to call on Lois,the mysterious pains that coincited with the son's death miles away, and the card with those uncanny words "from God."
God did take care of Lois that day and has since. As I share this Lois is visiting her family in Minnessota and when she returns I will pick her up at the airport.
Jenelle Pullin
Venice, Florida
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The Missing Book
Week of May 10
My friend Janae is seeing her daughter off to school when she does a foolish thing. She places a small book on the bumper of her Suv while she helps her daughter Sidney into a friend’s vehicle who is the designated driver for the car pool this day. Janae tells herself she will remember to retrieve the book before driving off. Of course she forgets.
It isn’t until Janae returns home that she remembers the little book. Naturally it is no longer on the bumper. This book had been her companion since she received it as a gift a week earlier. She drives back over the route she had traveled that morning but there is no evidence of the little book.
At noon I am at my hairdresser’s. While Lisa is doing my hair she tells me that her husband Joe came by her shop earlier and dropped off a book he had found in the middle of Bahia Vista Road. When he saw te book he pulled over but before he could get to it, two cars ran over it.”
The battered book is a copy of Joyce Meyers, "The Secret Power of Speaking God’s Word."
“Joe really got into the book,” Lisa said, “particularly the chapter on anger. He has been angry with God all these years since the accident so it was good for him to read about that. Then he noticed the handwriting inside the front cover, ‘To Janae from Wendy,’ and brought the book here.
You are a Christian woman Deb do you know a woman named Janae?”
“I know a Wendy and a Janae. They both go to my church.”
I called Wendy on her cell phone and yes she had given a copy of the book to Janae. Wendy called Janae who then called us at the shop to confirm that she had lost the book while driving that morning.
Lisa gave me the book to return to Janae. On my way I stopped by The Living Word book store and purchased a new copy of Meyer’s book.
Janae inscribed the new copy, thanking Joe for finding and returning hers. I added, “Joe: I know God wanted you to have this book.”
Deborah Smith
Sarasota, Florida.
My friend Janae is seeing her daughter off to school when she does a foolish thing. She places a small book on the bumper of her Suv while she helps her daughter Sidney into a friend’s vehicle who is the designated driver for the car pool this day. Janae tells herself she will remember to retrieve the book before driving off. Of course she forgets.
It isn’t until Janae returns home that she remembers the little book. Naturally it is no longer on the bumper. This book had been her companion since she received it as a gift a week earlier. She drives back over the route she had traveled that morning but there is no evidence of the little book.
At noon I am at my hairdresser’s. While Lisa is doing my hair she tells me that her husband Joe came by her shop earlier and dropped off a book he had found in the middle of Bahia Vista Road. When he saw te book he pulled over but before he could get to it, two cars ran over it.”
The battered book is a copy of Joyce Meyers, "The Secret Power of Speaking God’s Word."
“Joe really got into the book,” Lisa said, “particularly the chapter on anger. He has been angry with God all these years since the accident so it was good for him to read about that. Then he noticed the handwriting inside the front cover, ‘To Janae from Wendy,’ and brought the book here.
You are a Christian woman Deb do you know a woman named Janae?”
“I know a Wendy and a Janae. They both go to my church.”
I called Wendy on her cell phone and yes she had given a copy of the book to Janae. Wendy called Janae who then called us at the shop to confirm that she had lost the book while driving that morning.
Lisa gave me the book to return to Janae. On my way I stopped by The Living Word book store and purchased a new copy of Meyer’s book.
Janae inscribed the new copy, thanking Joe for finding and returning hers. I added, “Joe: I know God wanted you to have this book.”
Deborah Smith
Sarasota, Florida.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
God Calls Debbie
Week of May 3
I love my God. The God who sent Jesus Christ, My Lord and Savior, HE is my everything. So when people would share how God clearly spoke to them and they were going to do something out of clearly hearing God’s word, I would become puzzled and often wonder, “Why isn’t God talking to me?”
Well, one fall a thought came to mind. It was that I should maybe consider moving back to St. Louis. (I had been in Florida for 5 years.) When I left St. Louis I had experienced a very painful divorce and a lot of heartache so I never felt it was a place I would return to live. But the idea of moving back continued to come up in my quiet time and I did not understand.
Pastor Brian’s sermons were jumping out at me. He talked about quiet time, taking time to really spend with God in prayer and adoration. Let me tell you, it is awesome what we can hear from our Lord when we are quiet and consistently seek his word and desire for us.
Two months into this, I was going back home to St. Louis for Christmas. I was clearly hearing from God that He wanted me to return permanently, but I had never experienced this before, so I was wanting to make sure I was getting it right.
Mary is a dear friend, a woman who truly walks and talks with our God. What Faith she has. She sent me to Florida with much love and blessings and over the past five years never once asked, “When are you coming home?” So I prayed to God to please somehow reveal to me through Mary that this is what He wanted me to do.
Six of us ladies, friends for almost 30 years, meet for lunch while I am in St. Louis. As we are leaving, my friend Mary pulls me aside and says, “Debbie, God has really put you on my heart for the past several months. I think it is time you came home.” ( I began to tremble inside because I knew God was letting me know His desire for me.)
I jokingly said to her, “One problem, I need a job”. Then she proceeded to tell me another “God Thing”. Two days earlier a friend of hers, whom she had not talked to in months, just showed up at her door. Mary claims this Nurse Recruiter friend has never done such a thing before. She would normally call and ask to come by and visit. She told Mary she did not know why God led her to the house that morning, but just felt a strong need to visit her friend. During the conversation, she told Mary she was in need of a Nurse Case Manager and did she know of anyone. Oddly enough, Mary tells her that we are having lunch in two days and she would discuss it with me.
Mary then tells me to fax my resume to Karen and let God do the rest. I share with her what I had been praying for and how she revealed to me this is what God desires for me and I want and must be obedient. We both began to cry and thank God for his goodness.
I returned, put my condo up for sale and had a telephone interview from Florida for a Nurse Case Manager position the very next week. I have clearly heard God’s word to me and as frightening as a move, new job, etc. seems, I am excited and must be obedient. I don’t know what God has in store for me in St. Louis, but what ever it is, I will be able to get through it because I love my Lord and He is always with me. He is my Rock and my strength and is ever present.
I encourage you to spend quiet time with the Lord. Pray, read scripture and then, most importantly, be still, “listen, and know that I am God.” We MUST listen to God and be obedient to his will in our life.
Debbie Houston
St. Louis, Missouri
(Debbie received the position, found a nice house and is happily living in the St. Louis area.-Ed)
I love my God. The God who sent Jesus Christ, My Lord and Savior, HE is my everything. So when people would share how God clearly spoke to them and they were going to do something out of clearly hearing God’s word, I would become puzzled and often wonder, “Why isn’t God talking to me?”
Well, one fall a thought came to mind. It was that I should maybe consider moving back to St. Louis. (I had been in Florida for 5 years.) When I left St. Louis I had experienced a very painful divorce and a lot of heartache so I never felt it was a place I would return to live. But the idea of moving back continued to come up in my quiet time and I did not understand.
Pastor Brian’s sermons were jumping out at me. He talked about quiet time, taking time to really spend with God in prayer and adoration. Let me tell you, it is awesome what we can hear from our Lord when we are quiet and consistently seek his word and desire for us.
Two months into this, I was going back home to St. Louis for Christmas. I was clearly hearing from God that He wanted me to return permanently, but I had never experienced this before, so I was wanting to make sure I was getting it right.
Mary is a dear friend, a woman who truly walks and talks with our God. What Faith she has. She sent me to Florida with much love and blessings and over the past five years never once asked, “When are you coming home?” So I prayed to God to please somehow reveal to me through Mary that this is what He wanted me to do.
Six of us ladies, friends for almost 30 years, meet for lunch while I am in St. Louis. As we are leaving, my friend Mary pulls me aside and says, “Debbie, God has really put you on my heart for the past several months. I think it is time you came home.” ( I began to tremble inside because I knew God was letting me know His desire for me.)
I jokingly said to her, “One problem, I need a job”. Then she proceeded to tell me another “God Thing”. Two days earlier a friend of hers, whom she had not talked to in months, just showed up at her door. Mary claims this Nurse Recruiter friend has never done such a thing before. She would normally call and ask to come by and visit. She told Mary she did not know why God led her to the house that morning, but just felt a strong need to visit her friend. During the conversation, she told Mary she was in need of a Nurse Case Manager and did she know of anyone. Oddly enough, Mary tells her that we are having lunch in two days and she would discuss it with me.
Mary then tells me to fax my resume to Karen and let God do the rest. I share with her what I had been praying for and how she revealed to me this is what God desires for me and I want and must be obedient. We both began to cry and thank God for his goodness.
I returned, put my condo up for sale and had a telephone interview from Florida for a Nurse Case Manager position the very next week. I have clearly heard God’s word to me and as frightening as a move, new job, etc. seems, I am excited and must be obedient. I don’t know what God has in store for me in St. Louis, but what ever it is, I will be able to get through it because I love my Lord and He is always with me. He is my Rock and my strength and is ever present.
I encourage you to spend quiet time with the Lord. Pray, read scripture and then, most importantly, be still, “listen, and know that I am God.” We MUST listen to God and be obedient to his will in our life.
Debbie Houston
St. Louis, Missouri
(Debbie received the position, found a nice house and is happily living in the St. Louis area.-Ed)
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