Yesterday .... was such an amazing day in many ways. I am really encouraged today even though many including myself are praying for my dad and brother today both having surgeries today. I got a chance to talk with my brother yesterday and just let him know I loved him and try my best to assure his time in this life is secured in Christs hands. 5 bypass heart surgery is a major deal and dad having knee surgery that will hobble him for the next 2 months - that is a lot to pray over. Even though this is their walk in life and faith - it really is a test for those praying as well. Its asking our heavenly father for something important to us and then trusting him because we have no other place to turn or put our trust into. That is what faith is all about.
Without testing - what do we really have to lean on?
Exams are in full swing here at the university and times are stressful on faculty, staff and the students. Testing is often times used to reveal something - how well you know the material, value of a friendship, or the quality of something. Faith is no different as our faith is tested it often times reveals just how deep it is. When our friendships are tested it reveals just how deep and valuable that friendship is. Everyone knows that some friendships can be stressful. Being real about it, family, coworkers etc can really be a test! We all know they are less than perfect but the huge hurdle is when we get hurt and that at some point in any friendship - it will happen. When this happens we have 2 options - to stick it out and go to that hurtful place and work on that friendship - or we can abandon that hurt place and cut the ties to it because we dont want to go to that hurt place. When we work through the issues and make up our minds to resolve the conflict, often times that is when the relationship becomes stronger and deeper and more meaningful.
Last night as our rock group families got together for a meal and celebrate Christmas it was awesome to see the bonding, the deep relationships that have formed over the years. The love that our spiritual family has is the foundation as we do this life together. Our family has lost loved ones over the years together, we have children that taken tough paths in life, we have enjoyed a new baby being born - these all deepen our relationships together. Faith being tested as we pray together, for each other, for situations and for our families. I had everyone write down their prayer requests on index cards last night, the girls punched holes in them and tied a piece of yarn on them as after filling their prayer requests they hung them on the Christmas tree. That tree in our homes today symbolizes Christ and the meaning of Christmas. God has those prayer requests in a very meaningful and powerful way. I so much shared in the moments early yesterday while at the Center of Hope feeding the women and children there. After serving their meal, the girls went out and sat with the kids and lead them in singing Christmas songs. As the place lightened up by the joy in that - smiles became contagious and the room took on a new feel to it. Kids were hugging, parents were smiling - Joy and hope was being shared. I just sat back and enjoyed all that was taking place in those moments. Even though those shared moments were few and brief for many in the shelter - it was worth it for them to not feel the weight and pressures of their lives and being constantly reminded as to where they are. FOr them and so many as I think about the children in Jamaica and Kenya and so many other places - Hope is not lost and joy is found in those brief moments when we come together as one. Sharing one common foundation - love that can only come from Jesus.
Our faith is tested to bring out growth, learning and perserverance. Those things just dont happen automatically. I think about those mission trips and being totally out of my comfort zone. Incredible things happen when we get into situations like that and God uses them because we have no other place to turn but to him. Your faith is revealed then and how amazing it is knowing this when it is happening - trusting him in those situations and realizing that God REALLY is that close.
What are you avoiding today loved ones that might be just a little too much for you, a little too painful or hard? Do you normally shy away from things that stress you out and are able to deal with? God wants to show you that he is near and often times its during those times that we are stressed, in those relationships that are tough, and in those out of comfort zones.
God is really searching me these days to find out if my reactions and my heart are in the same place.
I will end todays post in prayer from Ephesians 1:15-23. I am very thankful for the people in my life and their friendship and always for their common place in life - love and prayers.
For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stpeed giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be fiven, not only in the present age but also in the the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

There is such great depth and richness that God gives us when we trust in him like this. My brother accepted Christ yesterday while our family pastor back home was visiting him. For the first time in my life, I got to pray with my brother and he told me he loved me as tears ran down his face. I am trusting that good news will come today for both my dad, my brother and for you.

It has been said that the impact you have in this life is often left in the footprints you leave. Those footprints are all over your life and how you live it. Praying for your footprints today.......
Lonnie~