My Family

Lord, I thought about entering different posts in the various accounts for my family members.  Maybe I will cut and paste the appropriate parts of this entry into the right places later, if I have time.  For now, I just want to get some prayer time before the MOPS steering meeting, which is supposed to happen here (Barnes & Noble Worcester) in a little over an hour.

George: I have become interested in the idea of praying for him "head to toe," as the title of the book suggests.  Up until now, I had only the sample.  I just ordered the full Kindle version, and I look forward to using February to go through the book and the prayer discipline.  He said via text that he was on his way home--already!!--to feed MY dog, Rocky.  :)  Yeah, right.  Rocky is tethered to George all weekend long, and rightly so.

I just took a peek at the prayers.  They are quite wonderful!  May they become my prayers for George, and may You grant them to bless him and draw him closer to You and us closer to each other.

Amy: Ahhh...I went over to Facebook to look at her page and posts, and tears come to my eyes.  She is so loved by the Mexicans at La Casa, and she so loves them right back.  I know, Lord, that she is praying about spending at least the summer in San Diego and spending much of that time over the border.  My prayer for her is this: that You would guide her and lead her in the way You want her to go, and that she would follow.  I know she mentioned not wanting to upset "Grandma," and that is a wonderfully loving consideration.  Let Your will be done!  Grandma is worried about losing Amy to the West Coast not for any really selfish reason, but because she loves her (both ways round) so much.  Please work this out, and provide for Amy's financial needs according to Your riches in glory!

Julie:  ThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYou!  Her 1st week in Morocco--which, after all, is not quite over yet--sounds like You just dumped a bucket of blessings on her.  By extension, we feel blessed, too!  The flights went smoothly, the first hotel was wonderful, the car/shuttle driver from the airport was anointed by You, and best of all, her home-stay family sounds WONDERFUL!!    (With Western toilets and showers--LOL!)  She is thinking deeply about some potentially upsetting issues about children and poverty, which thrills me and scares me at the same time.  Please allow the remainder of her time in Morocco to be just as blessed, and ... I am not quite sure I have the authority to ask You to use her to expand Your boundaries, since everyone needs to invite You to do that for themselves.  Still, my mother's heart begs for Your protection, for Your leading, for Your teaching her deep and wonderful things, and most of all, for Your continued work IN her life.

Okay~~wandering time over to the MOPS website!  Please use me in this meeting, and grant me much wisdom about what to say, if anything, and when to say it, and most of all, how to say what You want me to say.

Amen!

Bless Her, Indeed!

Bless Her, Indeed!

 

 

Julie's destination

Ahhh.  It is 9:24 a.m. and here I am, Lord!  Later than I had hoped, but I am keeping this “appointment” with you here in my office on Sever Street.  I have SO little time to spend in devoted, undistracted time with You.  (Not complaining—more confessing.)  So, let me get to the most pressing issue on my heart today: my younger daughter going to Morocco in just 5 days.

 

How do I feel about this trip?  It’s a funny mix of emotions.  I admit to a bit of fear and anxiety, and I wished (yes, past tense) that she would have gone to Eastern Europe instead.  However, I also think this is an adventure of a lifetime.  I am excited for her!  She has such a lot to do before Thursday, and I would please ask Your assistance to get it all done.  Sometimes she is not organized with regard to timing.  (I wonder if she inherited that from her father.  Haha!)  We need a couple of specific acts of grace from You: she needs her World Health Organization form signed before she leaves, and … okay, now I forget.  Oh, yeah.  She needs her contacts for 15 weeks.  Oy.  Grace, dear understanding Father.  Please?

Moreover, please pursue her during this time away from a lot of Christian fellowship.  I know, I am sometimes too arrogant about the weaknesses in many of my Christian family members.  Maybe even more than “sometimes.”  The sin of pride, right?  L  Well, I digress.  My prayer/desire/request for Julie is this: that her relationship with You might be strengthened and deepened during this time away, a relatively solitary and individual time for her faith.  Of course, humanly and maternally I ask for safety for her.  (I wonder what Your mother must have gone through, releasing You to danger and death.  I feel for her!)

And now, what?  It’s 9:49 a.m., and I expect my client in 10 minutes.  Bless her, too.  That’s an entry for another page.  J

I love You more than anyone else, and not enough, at the same time. 

In Jesus’s name~~Amen.

 

PS  Scott Hassett and Gail, Shayna, and the other daughter whose name I don’t think I ever put in my memory—Scott is dying of pancreatic cancer, and likely soon.  Do You remember Andrew, the Angel of Death from Touched By An Angel?  (Of course You do.)  They could use some angels to bring comfort, humor, and grace during Scott’s homegoing.  Make it wonderful, as wonderful as the death of a loved one can be, please?

Joey's ASVAB

(ASVAB stands for Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery.)

Father, that dear nephew by Bill, Joey, posted his ASVAB score on Facebook today.  It is a below average score, not surprising for those of us who know and love Joey.  The specific subtests seem to be important to indicate what kinds of jobs he might have, should the military still take him.

What do I want to talk about with You?  About Joey?  Well, let's see.  I would so much like to see him feel secure and loved, not only by us but by You.  I am afraid that his parents and their example and influence in his life have hardened his heart to spiritual things.  So perhaps that really ought to be the first focus of prayer--softening his heart.  YOU are the One to do this, and as Your child/minister/servant, I am willing to be used by You to assist in this work.  It is a great work!  Rescuing lost souls is a harder job than I ever thought, and much more subtle than just preaching on a street corner.  Ahhhh.

So, if only by virtue of my telling him that I am talking to You about him, please assure him that You are interested in his life.  That You care deeply about his future and his happiness.  That You are so committed to him that You even died in his place for his sins which, unforgiven, would keep him in hell forever.  In Jesus's name, by the work of the Holy Spirit, and to Your glory~~Amen.



Prayer for CE?

Hello, Lord.  Don't take the dates difference between these posts to indicate that I have not prayed.  You know that!  Just now on Facebook, one of the Junior Church teachers with a learning disabled (maybe) daughter, Kassidy, asked for prayer for Kassidy's midterm exam tomorrow.  I am honored to partner with You in prayer in Kassidy's life.  So....

Dearest Heavenly Father, how often we humans fail the "tests" that You place before us.  Too often.  For a young person with learning challenges, the struggle with tests is not only academic but spiritual.  Lord, would You honor Kassidy by allowing her a decently passing grade?  More importantly, dear God, would You calm her heart in an extraordinary Divine way that can come only from You?  Help her to pass the test to "be anxious for nothing."  But--remind her to pray with thanksgiving!  We love her and her mom, Lord God.  Please use this trial to prove Yourself to her, to strengthen the bond that she has with You, and to be exalted and glorified.  In Jesus's wonderful name~~Amen.

Another thing, dear God.  This one has the potential to be twitchy.  I think I need to communicate with the pastor of our church about the state of CE, specifically Junior Church but touching on Nursery as well.  I am NOT good at this.  In fact, I am actively avoiding writing this letter.  Maybe I will keep it 95% newsy and positive.  Please inspire me.  I don't think I will write it tonight.  I will, however, continue to ask Your thoughts and direction on it.  Please give me an outline of what to say.  I also need You to help me, my Ezer, with the annual report due next week.  I would continue to embrace these ministries with zeal and excitement if I did not have so many distractions in my life, you know.  I wish HBC would hire a Children's Ministry Coordinator.

Okay, I told our daughter that I would try to be home by 7:30 p.m.  I don't have much time left.  Sometimes I just need to sit long enough for the distractions in my head to drift off and allow the important, heavy issues to remain behind.  A whole day...what a dream!

I love You so much!  Be exalted!  Jesus, the most beautiful name that I know.

Scott Hassett, HBC Elder

Scott has been on my heart lately, dear Father.  What a blow to him and his family to be diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer!  I am without words to pray.  I just posted a picture of the tree pin that I got from Scott.  I hope that others will respond and pray for him, remember his struggle and the suffering of the family, and bring him--as I am doing now--before Your throne of grace.

Pray for one another.  Didn't You say that a few times in Scripture?  Yup, in James 5:16 and specifically "so that you may be healed."  I could use healing, too, Lord, but Scott needs some physical miracle so much more than I do right now.  Again, though, I have no idea exactly what to ask You to do.  Bring him relief of pain; bring Gail relief of anxiety; bring them both amazingly, so much closer to You through this awful time.  Be glorified!  In Jesus's most powerful name, Who healed bodies to show that that's the easy part, and that healing souls and forgiving sin is the way harder thing to do~~Amen.