Category: Be Strong and Courageous

How God Can Put Together the Broken Pieces of Our Heart

Posted on by Dorci

Last weekend our church had the distinct privilege of hearing this man give a little bit of his testimony about what happened on the day this photo was taken and afterward.  You might be familiar with this image of Chris Fields and Miss Baylee Almon that was taken, unbeknownst to him, on April 19, 1995, the day of the Oklahoma City bombing.

He described a little bit about that horrific, rainy day that would end the lives of 168 people, 19 of them children, and injured more than 500.  How rows of first responders dug their way through rubble, 5 gallon buckets at a time, passing each one behind him or her until late into the night, looking for people, dead or alive.  How they had to try to match body parts to the rest of the body. How they came across a woman, barely alive, and were able to get her to safety, only to learn later that she and her unborn baby didn’t survive.

And how another firefighter handed Miss Baylee (the name her family called her) to him for a few moments while he went to find something to lay down so they wouldn’t have to lay someone’s precious child directly on the ground. Even how the Pulitzer Prize winning photo itself caused a lot of grief and controversy.

Chris struggled hard to deal with all that had happened.  Sometime later, when the smell of wet cement triggered a flashback of that day, he began to realize just how much the events were affecting him.

Chris talked about the fact that his mom had always been the family’s prayer warrior, and she told him God had a plan for him.  But Chris didn’t see it, and he decided to make his own plan, and he moved away from his wife and young sons.

Chris’s wife, Cheryl, talked about the fact that she didn’t grow up in a Christian family like Chris had.  Still, when her husband left, she turned to the Bible. People encouraged her to read the Psalms, and when she didn’t understand something, she called Chris to explain. And she began to pray.

She didn’t try putting on pretenses with God. She was honest. She prayed that if Chris wasn’t coming back, the Lord would take away her love for him.

Some people might not dare pray a prayer like that. Some people might just get mad at God and not pray at all.  And they might miss out on all God wants to do in their lives because of it.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29

Cheryl kept praying, and never once did God turn her away for praying that prayer. On the contrary. Sitting in the presence of God, over and over, allowed God to work in her heart. Of course, God didn’t take away her love for Chris. He strengthened it.

God filled Cheryl with His amazing grace. And when Chris called one day about a year and a half after he’d left, Cheryl said, “Come home.”

And he did.

I’m sure the road since hasn’t been easy. There’s been counseling, and Chris still gets emotional talking about it. But with God they’ve persevered.

Since then Chris and Cheryl have spoken to many groups about PTSD, and about the hope that God gives. Looks like Chris’s mom was right (as moms often are).

The enemy does not have the last word. he will not have the last word as long as we sit with God and pour out our hearts to Him. He will never turn away someone who’s genuinely seeking Him, no matter what the prayer.

God’s not one bit surprised at the thoughts we have. He knows our hearts better than we do and already knows the thoughts we have. He just wants us to be honest, and know we can go to Him with anything. He’s our loving Father, and He wants us to know that no matter how broken our hearts are, if we’ll offer up those pieces to Him in prayer, He can put them together even better than they were before. If we abide in Him – cling to Him – through the good, the bad, and the ugly, He can fill us with His love and grace and mercy, fulfill His plans for us, and set us on a path we never dreamed possible.

 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for all you do.  Thank you for loving us through everything, for giving us your strength and courage as we go through trials.  Help us to give you our hearts, no matter how dark they seem or how many pieces they’re in, so you can heal them and fill them with your light. Help us to daily abide in Christ. Help us hold onto Him, to pray without ceasing, no matter what. Make us more than conquerors, Lord, and we pray that you have the last, victorious, glorious word in our hearts and in our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for the Persecuted

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you, and we thank you for all you’ve blessed us with.  Forgive us for the times we take those blessings for granted, and we ask that you would remind us often to be grateful to you for pouring out onto us more blessing, more freedom, more love and grace than we can imagine.  I pray our gratitude will lead us to be a fountain of that love, grace, and mercy that you’ve so generously given to us.

Lord, we lift up our brothers and sisters around the world who are being persecuted for their faith, those who are in prison, who are being tortured, who are separated from their families.  Father, in Jesus’ name I pray you would fill them with your Holy Spirit and your might so that all you desire to accomplish in and through them will be done. May you do miraculous things, things that only you can do.

Lord, please fill them with your peace that passes all understanding; fill them with your strength to go on from one hour to the next; fill them with your love and forgiveness so that their hearts don’t become hardened or bitter; fill them with your joy so they are a light to those around them; fill them with boldness to continue proclaiming the gospel and the name of Christ; fill them with hope as they remember their great reward is with you. 

May they feel your presence with them, and may you, in the mighty name of Jesus, bind the hand of the enemy. May our brothers and sisters continue to trust you, put their faith in you, and may they see, even if only a little bit, the fruit of their labor.  And may we always remember them in our prayers, and honor them with our lives, boldly and freely proclaiming the gospel and the name of Jesus Christ.  It’s in His precious and matchless name I pray, amen.

September 11 Spurs Us On

Posted on by Dorci

As we reflect on this day 17 years ago, we are reminded that in an instant everything can change.

Whether the change involves an entire country, or our own personal sphere, we never know what a day can bring.  Life is short.

All around us there are lonely people to love, hurting people to comfort, hungry people to feed, thirsty people to give something to drink, impoverished people to clothe, imprisoned people to visit, and lost people to tell the good news that a Savior has come.

May the remembrance of this day, the soberness of the hour of our lives, and our love for Jesus be the catalysts that seek the power of the Holy Spirit, minute by minute, to “lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Let us look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and your hearts give up.”  Hebrews 12:1-3 MEV

Though we will have trouble in this world, let us rejoice and have peace – Jesus Christ has overcome the world.

Be Strong and Courageous, Part 3

Posted on by Dorci

Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16

You might have read about the trial I plunged into 13 years ago. I’ve written about it many times, as it’s given me plenty to write about. In case you haven’t, or you’ve forgotten, I’ll give you a little recap.

I sat in church one Sunday all those Sundays ago, and heard the words straight out of the book of Joshua, “Be strong and courageous.”  Those are the words God gave Joshua as he was about to take over Moses’s job leading the Israelites through the desert and into the Promised Land.

Now, I don’t know if you’ve had the experience of hearing or reading certain words in the Bible, and you were sure they had leapt off the page, stared you straight in the face daring you to adopt them as your own.  

If you’ve known Christ for very long, you probably have.  If you’re relatively new to following Him, I’m telling you right now, the day will come when that will happen. Don’t second guess it. The Holy Spirit, our Counselor in Chief, is speaking to you.

I knew He was speaking to me the first time.  But apparently once wasn’t enough.  Either I was slow or the journey would be long and rough. Both, it turns out. I don’t remember the exact situation each time, but over the course of the next month I heard those words three more times, and each subsequent time they came at me faster and louder.

A friend was there every time, too, and we talked about the fact that it was odd that those words kept coming up. The fourth time I heard them, my friend, who was sitting a few rows in front of me, turned and looked into my eyes. She confirmed it wasn’t just my imagination.  She knew something was up, too.

Of course neither of us had any idea what it meant.  But I was soon to find out. Sort of.

I had been having some bad headaches, and an even more difficult time sleeping. One Sunday, about a month after my four personal exhortations, I just so happened to be at another church our church had planted, and I just so happened to run into a friend of mine in the bathroom, and she just so happened to ask how I was doing, and I told her.  She told me I should have my blood pressure checked.

My blood pressure had never been anything over a perfectly respectable normal, even prior to surgery, and I didn’t have any of the usual risk factors, so I knew it wasn’t high, but just to cross that off my list, I put my arm in one of those blood pressure cuffs while I was at the store shopping after church, and pushed the button.

I looked at the reading, and stared at it for a minute.  Surely it couldn’t be that high. 

Maybe it was just high because I was trying to corral my son as I sat there while that cuff tightened around my arm like the grim reaper was trying to pull me away.  So I took a couple of deep breaths, tried to calm down, and pushed the button again.  This time it was even higher. Before I knew it I found myself in a fire station where they could take it and tell me that the machine just wasn’t working and my blood pressure was just fine.

Only it wasn’t.  Suddenly they were asking me if I could see, was my vision blurry, how did I feel…  I felt fine, except that now tears were rolling down my face. Something was terribly, drastically wrong. They wanted to call an ambulance, but my husband promised to take me directly to the emergency room.

And that started my journey through my own dry, confusing, anxiety-filled desert. My journey into learning to believe God even when things seemed out of control. Even when it seemed like He wasn’t listening to my cries for healing, or even for a diagnosis for that sky-high blood pressure and the many health issues that would follow.

I wanted my old life back so bad.  I wanted to serve and do and be and go…

But God refused to let me go back to Egypt. He had better things for me. Not things you can see, mind you. While I had prayed many times for deliverance from this surely evil thing that had taken ahold of my body, God was delivering me from other things far more important.

The third time God spoke these words to Joshua, He finished His admonition with this: “Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9

And whether I could see Him or feel Him, my God has been with me, too, delivering me from those dark places of unbelief, from lack of discipline, from self-centeredness, from a shallow, self-reliant, self-righteous, works-based “faith.”  He’s been delivering me from myself.

In the heat of the desert He is infusing my heart with His, my character and mind, soul and spirit, with His.

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17:20-23

One day when I stand before Jesus, I’ll see all He’s done for me, the godly character He worked into me that I never could have learned with a healthy body.

He may choose to deliver you a different way.  He knows what each of us needs. He is as much a personal God as He is loving and forgiving and compassionate.

If you’re in a desert now, be strong and courageous.  He’s with you.  And He will deliver you safely, whole and completed, to the Promised Land.