Quote of the Week

Quotes you learn from: ALONG LIFE'S WAY

"Pride goes before a disaster, a haughty spirit before a fall."

Proverbs 16:18

Debbie learns an important lesson

Week of October 19, 2014

 I love my God. He is my everything. So when people would share how God clearly spoke to them, I would become puzzled and wonder, “Why isn’t God talking to me?”

 

In the fall of 2005 the thought came to my mind that I should consider moving back to St. Louis. I had been in Florida for five years. I had left St.Louis after experiencing a painful divorce and a lot of heartache. I felt I never would return. But this thought of returning continued to come up during my quiet time. I didn’t understand.

 

My pastor’s sermon were jumping out at me. He talked about quiet time, taking time to spend with God in prayer and adoration. 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 decided to return to St. Louis for Christmas and visit with family and friends. God was telling me to return permanently but since I hadn’t experienced hearing from God before I wanted to make sure I was getting it right

 

I have a dear friend, Mary, 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 these 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’m visiting 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 now 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 whom she had not talked to in months, showed up at her door. Mary claims this Nurse Recruiter friend would normally call and ask to come by for a visit. She told Mary she did not know why God led her to the house that morning, but she felt a strong need to talk with her friend.

 

During the conversation, she told Mary that she was in need of a Nurse Care Manager and did she know of anyone. Oddly enough, Mary told her, that she was having lunch in two days with me and she would discuss the position with me.

 

Mary tells me to fax my resume to Karen and let God do the rest. I shared with her that I had been praying that God would reveal through Mary what He desires for me and that I will be obedient. We both begin to cry and that God for His goodness.

 

I returned to Florida and put my condo up for sale. The next week I had a telephone interview for the Nurse Case Manager position.

 

I have clearly heard from God and as frightening as a move, new job, etc seems, I am excited and will be obedient. Whatever God has in store for me I know 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.

 

I encourage you to spend quiet time with the Lord. Pray, read scripture and then, most importantly, be still and “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

 

(We caught up with Debbie in 2013. She is in her seventh year as a Nurse Case Manager, has her own villa, is active in her church and is enjoying her family and friends.—Ed)

My Spiritual Quest

Week of October 12

 

In the fall of 2005, I left my job working as a prosecutor for the State of New Jersey and contemplated my next career move.  I had just started dating a nice man from the Jersey shore and I considered moving there to start my own business.  Before I even began thinking about new employment, I planned a trip to the southwest part of the US.  My intention was to take a journey, not just a vacation.  I told myself  (and some close friends) that this was a spiritual quest.  I knew there was a lack of something in my life.  I felt empty inside, especially after so many failures in my relationships and my career. Even without a belief in God, I still knew that the longing I was feeling was in the spiritual realm not the worldly.

 

I flew to Albequerque, New Mexico, rented a SUV, and headed towards Sante Fe and Taos. After a couple of days I rented a mountain bike and followed a trail alongside the Rio Grande River.  I was alone.  I liked being by myself.  Typically, I was more open to new experiences and friendships when I was traveling alone.  As I rode the trail high above the famous river, I began to get a sense of the vastness of the countryside.  I had ridden for an hour without passing a soul.  At one point I stopped just to listen to the silence.  All I could hear was the sound of my blood whooshing in my ears.  No cars, no people, not even the call of a bird.  It felt a bit surreal.  And for some reason I looked up at the sky.  I would say in reflection that God wanted me to look up and I was responding to his unspoken call.

 

As I looked at the deep blue sky with its wispy clouds, my eyes immediately fixed on a recognizable shape in the cloud directly above my head.  My jaw dropped as I picked out the unmistakable outline of a bearded Jesus with a crown of thorns on his head.  I gaped for what seemed like a minute but it could have been less. 

 

When the cloud finally began to break up, I tilted my head back to upright and wondered about what I had just seen.  I was not a believer in Jesus and having been raised by secular, Jewish intellectual parents, the face of Jesus was the last thing I was searching for in my spiritual quest.

 

That  incident stuck with me but not in any revelatory way.  It was just a really cool thing to file away in the recollection of my journey out West. 

 

 When my travels took me to Moab and Zion, I had two separate encounters with Christians who witnessed to me.  In Moab, I was shopping in a knick knack store – more like a warehouse of strange things – when I struck up a conversation with the owner, Robert.  He offered to take me to Arches National Park the next day.  I agreed and we met at a breakfast joint the next morning.  I thought Robert was a bit eccentric so it didn’t faze me when he began to mention Jesus on the hiking trail into the park.  The rock formations were amazing and it was nice to have a companion for once in my travels.  When we parted, I took his email address.  Although I wrote a time or too, it was never to acknowledge his testimony; I just offered a thank you for a great day.

 

When I started out on my first day at Zion National Park, I rose early so I could take in some coffee and breakfast to fortify my day of hiking.  It was a small restaurant and I recall striking up a conversation with two young ladies seated nearby.  They shared that they were both attending a Christian leadership camp of some sort.  I asked where they were from and we shared our plans for the upcoming week.  As I began to finish up my coffee, one of the girls shared about Jesus and salvation.  I cannot now remember her words, but the sincerity was clear as was her longing for me to understand.  I finally extricated myself and walked to my car.  The girl who shared chased me into the parking lot waving a piece of paper.  It was a piece of scripture – typed or handwritten, I cannot recall.  I saved it for some reason and even remember finding it many years later after I had become a Christian.  I wish these young ladies and Robert could both know now that I am a follower of Christ.  We never know when seeds we sow ripen into faith

  These were the first times I had ever been witnessed to as far as I can recall.  The incidents happened within days of each other and of the experience along the Rio Grande.  I have pretty specific recollections of these two people who witnessed to me.  I recall even now that they spoke specifically about Jesus as the way to salvation and a relationship with God.  However, despite the overt purpose of my journey – to create a stronger spiritual part of my life – the incident with the clouds and the encounters with the Christians did not cause me to consider following Jesus even for one moment.  Following the trip, I did not give much thought to Jesus or the testimony of my new acquaintances. 

 

In a few months, I would move to the coast of New Jersey and begin to start my own law practice.  I was still dating my nice, Catholic beau.  We discussed his beliefs; he gave me books to read (The Shack, Conversations with God).  And so maybe the path was sown with enough seeds to allow me to agree, in the summer of 2006, to attend a Saturday night service at my secretary’s church.  She told me her husband was leading the music and I thought that sounded like a nice reason to go to church.

 

As I began to go regularly to the Saturday night services, the incidences in New Mexico and Utah began to return to mind.  I was learning that God allows seekers to find Him when they are ready.  He puts people and occurrences in our lives to lead us to Him.  I could not see the big picture while I was an unbelieving seeker; but as the months went by it became clear to me that God wanted me – specifically, me, as an individual - to find Him.  And Jesus was not some foreign entity, an object to be dismissed as generations of Jews before me had done unthinkingly.  Jesus was merely the part of God that is observable, knowable, approachable.  I found out in August of 2007, knowing God was as simple as asking Him into my life and into my heart. 

 

It was more than a year and a half from when I had begun my “spiritual quest.”  I had no idea then how intricately planned that trip actually had been.  I had nothing to do with it really.  But looking back over the years, I can see the greater picture and how God works so specifically in each of our lives to bring us closer to knowing Him.  Hopefully, by reading my story now, a seed is planted in your heart as it was in mine.  Let the real Journey begin!

 

Alison Aaron Madsen

The New Jersey Shore

A Confirmation

 

Week of October 6,2014

 

           Like most empty-nesters, we had two cars:  A luxury sedan for Bill and a sporty SUV for me.  When Bill was diagnosed with brain cancer and had to be driven to chemo treatments, he became the passenger in the sedan…the smooth leather seats made it easy for him to pivot while getting in and out.  The cloth seats in my vehicle didn’t quite do the trick.  He just plain enjoyed being in that car!

            As Bill’s condition worsened, we realized that we no longer needed two cars, so our youngest son was given my little car.  When Bill entered hospice care at home, I drove the sedan on the days I was able to go to the office for part of the day and for all the errands.

            After Bill died, I tried hard to like his car as much as I had my “old” one.  It was a lovely automobile, and as much as I appreciated its features, it just didn’t please me.  Another son with two children needed to replace a troublesome car, so I knew I could pass the sedan along to him and keep it in the family.  And that Bill would be pleased to have some grandchildren riding in it!

            So a trip to the dealer produced a sporty little red sedan that won my heart right away.  No trade, not much paperwork, and the car would be ready for pickup the following day.  That night, of course, doubt came to visit.  Had I been callous to Bill’s memory not to cherish his car?  Was it my duty to keep it spiffy and on the road for as long as it would last?  I decided to claim the new car.

            When I saw it sitting on the lot, all shiny and cute and waiting for me, I knew I’d been guided to the purchase and that all was well.  How did I know?  The numbers on MY (not Bill’s) car’s license plate had been 5603.  The brand new plates, supplied by the dealer, ended in 5604.  A most logical progression that my engineer husband would certainly have appreciated.

 

Rosemarie Seewagon

Hilton, New York