Sunday. A time of worship and church. And we were late. We were both ready at our usual departure time, but my husband was called on a case for his company. I had resigned myself to watch the service from my living room chair even though I wanted to be there in person.
As luck would have it… well, it really wasn’t luck because God knew both of us needed to be there, so luck wasn’t a factor.
We missed part of the worship segment of the service, but not all of it. And I was truly thankful to have been able to participate. And the worship was wonderful.
We worship in a small community church and have been attending there since we moved to North Carolina. And we both wanted to be there this Sunday because our pastor was concluding part four of our church’s series: Storm Clouds of Deception on the Horizon. I took my usual copious notes, so I had them in case I needed them for the telephone Bible Study I’ve been doing for years.
But the reason we had to be there was because we were asked to be the prayer team after the service. The enemy would like nothing more than to keep ministry workers at home and miss God’s blessings. We would have missed a wonderful time of worship and the blessing of ministering to others.
What’s important about being the church’s prayer team today was that if we had stayed home, we would have missed out on the blessing to pray for those in need.
The first man to come forward was a man who has encouraged us and made us laugh since the day we met him. But he’s been having serious health issues for a long time. We have been praying for this brother every Wednesday at our church’s Engine Room Ministry, where a group of us pray for the needs of our church, our community, and the world.
He hadn’t come to pray, but just to tell us how much he loved us. I asked him if we could pray for him, so we did. I could tell the prayer touched him because his hand left my shoulder to wipe away the tears. But we were more blessed by what he had to say after the prayer ended.
That dear brother has bone cancer. He told us how he’d been hospitalized frequently in the past month. (We knew this because of the updates during Wednesday evening prayer time).
But you know, God is greater than any cancer. He told us how his PSA was 70+ when it should be less than 6. That’s not good news. However, he said, during his most recent stay, he had eleven doctors surrounding the foot of his bed. (I suspect the hospital he was in was a teaching hospital, but I didn’t ask.)
The lead doctor called on one of the other ten doctors to tell him what they found. The doctor said, “We can’t explain it. We don’t know why, but your PSA level has dropped to 2.” (My heart leaped for joy. God had answered our prayers.)
Our friend said he told those eleven doctors he knew why his levels had dropped.
“Why,” one doctor asked.
“Because I have hundreds and hundreds of people praying for me,” he said. He told us he had people praying from as far away as Oregon and California.
A few of the doctors murmured “hmmm.” But most of them said nothing. It doesn’t matter if they believe or not because we know why his levels decreased. And it might even awaken them to the possibility that while doctors have the knowledge and experience to treat various diseases, some things are left to the Almighty.
He asked his doctor if he was in remission. The doctor was hesitant to say that was the case and understandably so, but our friend will get a bone scan and blood tests later this week. Of course, we’ll be praying for a good outcome for those tests as well.
And we would have missed out on that blessing of knowing how God answered prayer if we hadn’t gone to church this morning.
We also needed our friend’s uplifting story because, on the heels of hearing his experience, a mother came forward crying. Her little girl has an incurable bone disease. The doctors said it would get progressively worse. We can’t say if the little girl will be healed because it’s not up to us. Our job is to pray for her. The healing will come from the Lord, if He so chooses. So we prayed, along with another woman in our congregation. The experience tore at both of us and wrenched our hearts. But we will continue to pray for that little girl and her family.
Another blessing of being able to minister to that mother and daughter we would not have had if we had stayed home. There’s more to the story about how God intervened so we wouldn’t miss out on these blessings, but that’s for another time.
We are big believers in prayer at our house. How about you? Do you have any answered prayer stories you’d like to share?
When we lived in Germany, we took a road trip to Paris. It was Memorial Day weekend. What surprised us was how disconnected we felt from the “holiday” because the Europeans do not celebrate the day. And why would they? It’s an American holiday. We were given the last Monday in May off because my husband worked for an American company in Germany. Since the company did work for the military, they observed the holiday as well.
took some photos. I noticed a man with a VFW hat locking his car door to the left of me. I walked over to him and thanked him for his service (something I always do whenever I see a person in uniform.) Because I don’t speak French, I asked him if he knew why the Arc was closing. He said there was a Memorial Day procession at noon and that we should stay for it. My watch said it was barely 11:30.
My husband, Ted, sat on a ledge and I told him why the Arc would be closed. He wanted to stay for the event. I joined him for a few minutes to cool off because the temperature soared that day.
The French Police came and told us we had to move behind a set of metal barricades. My husband and I turned and moved quickly to get a ring-side spot that allowed the best view. The Star Spangled Banner faintly played and I wondered who played it. French soldiers marched to the front of the tomb and there was a French military band who came around the side and stood opposite the French soldiers. They had been playing our national anthem!
I hesitated because I didn’t want to offend him, but I wanted his opinion on WWII. I think he understood what I meant. He said that it was sad that it happened. He said he didn’t know what he would have done if he had lived in that era and that he was glad he was living now and not then. His response disappointed me, but I wasn’t surprised by it. Five minutes before the event, he and his girlfriend left. That surprised me.
As the band played the Star-Spangled Banner, my husband saluted, and I began to sing loud and proud. I heard a woman’s voice behind me singing loudly as well, and then other voices joined in. There were more Americans in the crowd than I expected.
and the man, Amos, is one of the minor prophets of the Bible. His name means “burden” or “burden bearer” and he was a man of burden as he delivered prophecies of judgment on the nations surrounding Israel and Israel itself. He lived about ten miles from Jerusalem and Bible scholars have dated his ministry between 750 and 760 BC, at the time of King Uzziah, when the nation of Israel had been divided into two nations for 150 years
So how does this verse correlate to today’s society?
Who says there’s no romance in the Bible? This book negates that notion. It’s a testament of the deep, abiding love and romance between a man and a woman.
Detailing a couple’s story from their first meeting to courtship and then their marriage, the book isn’t in chronological order. Instead, we read the magnificent snapshots of the man and woman’s romantic and sensual human love. Their desires are God-given, and they are committed to one another throughout the book.
When my husband and I were about to be married, we went through marriage counseling even though we were seasoned adults. What struck my core was when my husband said to me, “Honey, I’m only middle management. I have to answer to God if I mistreat you.” Talk about a man who understands his position within marriage. Those two little sentences emphasized how we would succeed. Side-by-side with Jesus central to our marriage. My husband lifted me up when I was down and I did the same for him when necessary. We’ve practiced being one another’s strength for almost twenty years. We’ve had our bumps in the road but through it all, we both knew Jesus was the strand that kept us bound and influenced how we’d move forward.
Case in point. Years ago, my daughter studied in Luxembourg for a fall semester with sixty other college students. A small class. Lo
She told me she had gone to Prague because it was one city she loved in Europe. At this point, I was reluctant to tell her what had happened. I gently asked her about her friends that went on a ski trip. She said other students wanted her to go but she didn’t feel comfortable about the trip. (I believe the Holy Spirit told her not to go.) When I explained what had happened, she immediately wanted to go to the school because she had no idea what had happened since she had been out of town.
The book of Ester is my favorite Old Testament book of the Bible. I’ve read it many times and am always amazed at Ester’s strength and courage. How God worked out the circumstances to preserve His people is mind-boggling. Every little detail. His love, commitment, and grace to His people always astound me even though I shouldn’t be astounded…I always am.
We could not have survived the many upheavals we’ve had if Jesus were not a part of our marriage. It’s interesting to me. My husband once said, “I don’t know how other couples make their marriage work without Jesus in it.” I believe he’s right.