Saturday, May 13, 2017

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!


LADIES, DO YOU KNOW?  It will be Mother's Day tomorrow and just thinking about the celebration of the moms in our lives emanates a wide span of emotions!  Bear with me here … this is not going to be the normal sweet, syrupy bouquet of blushing accolades for the perfect mom.  I will leave that to the Hallmark writers so you can hopefully find the card that says exactly what you want to say – without having to read through dozens to find the one isolated card in hiding that expresses the love you feel – and yet “fits” the mom you are wanting to honor! 

LADIES, DO YOU KNOW?  You might already have a wish list for your family who loves you and asks what you “want” for Mother’s Day – because you already know!  Or perhaps you are not a mom, but you are attempting to put together a gift list of ideas for your own mom or someone who is like a “second mom” to you.  How’s that going? :-)  Or possibly, you are feeling like you are totally unworthy and you just want the holiday to go away so you wouldn’t have to think one more minute about all the failures you feel like you’ve made trying so very hard to be the best mom ever.  Or maybe you just gave up a long time ago.

LADIES, DO YOU KNOW?  It breaks my heart when I talk to women who feel like they have no hope.  No future.  No where to go other than stuck in the life that has them trapped – and they see no way out.  Hopelessness is most likely the worst emotion any of us has ever had to face.  It cuts the cord to reality.  It chokes out the last remaining bit of hope and dries up the soul. 

LADIES, DO YOU KNOW?  I feel as if I am to be speaking to all of you today … not just mothers, but of course they can relate to the mega-millions of emotions that all of us feel from time to time, as well.  I frequently talk with lots of women of all ages, and in recent weeks and months I am getting not just a tiny glimpse of how they feel … but a magnified, telescopic view of what’s been pushed down in their hearts for far too long!  Sadness, hurt, anger, bitterness, despair.  Hopelessness – yes, there is that “treacherous place” again.  I could go on – but that is more than enough to let you see the state of mind and heart that they are experiencing.  Maybe, just maybe ~ you are one of them.  You are not alone!  Ladies … girls - this is NO place to live!!  Life is too precious to have it stolen right out from under us because we are so bent over with the weight of whatever is consuming us.  So what’s a girl to do?

LADIES, DO YOU KNOW?  Do you know that God has SO much more in His hands that He is just longing to give to you?!  You are probably spitting out the words:  “well why doesn’t He just give it all to me then, instead of waiting so long?”  You know something?  He could.  But He wants you to be involved so that what He gives you will be lasting, instead of wasted.  First of all, He needs you to quit listening to all the other voices, and just listen to His.  He wants you to know that you HAVE TO STOP listening to the lies of the enemy!  There is not one iota of truth in what he tells you about yourself.  No wonder you feel unworthy and hopeless.  Satan strips you of your God-given worth and value, and then blinds you so that you cannot see reality and truth with clarity and belief.  Doesn’t that make you angry – in a righteous way?  Who do we think our enemy is, that we have to settle for the life he’s painted for us?  I want to TELL YOU that he does NOT have a say about our life.  Period.  WE have the authority OVER him, through the shed blood of Jesus, and don’t you ever forget that, ladies!!!  EVER, EVER! 

LADIES, DO YOU KNOW?  Do you realize that you get to be coached by the Life-Planner that CREATED your life?  He knit you together in your mother’s womb, so He sure knows how to give you a plan and a purpose and put you back on the track that He had in mind before you were even born!  It doesn’t matter how FAR you’ve strayed off the path of His plan … the loving voice of His Spirit will guide you right back to that perfect path – and He will be walking right beside you to make sure you keep your eyes focused on the heavenly prize!  (Much better than any Mother’s Day gift, I might add!) 

LADIES, DO YOU KNOW?  There is no perfect age for us to be redeemed, renewed, and restored!  My own mom has just turned 93 years old … and I have a brand new mom!  I am not sure I could even tell you what all took place.  What I do know is that she was getting so weak she wondered if she was going to live – or die.  But God stepped in and did something so much more amazing than just pouring His healing and strength into her tired, sick body.  Oh, she already knew Jesus personally … she has for decades and decades!  But believe me, when whatever happened – happened … everything she had hung on to for years that seemed to keep her from being totally free, fell OFF!  My 93 year old mom is truly free in Christ!  When I traveled to see her, what I witnessed was nothing short of a supernatural miracle!  The old is gone – the new has walked in to stay.  Her personality, her demeanor, her words, her tone of voice … have all taken on the attributes of Jesus.  Before, yes, she knew Jesus and knew what His Word said.  She was a prayer warrior, arising at 5:00 every morning to pray for all of her children, including me, plus a long list of others she loved praying for.  But something was missing.  God’s truth as she knew it had been so skewed by the enemy over the years, and he had kept her bound by worry and fear and bondage.  All of this is another story – for another time, though. 

LADIES, DO YOU KNOW?  I have to tell you this:  I knew that when God would call my mom Home to heaven someday, she would finally be fully free!  But I longed so deeply for Mom to experience that freedom while she was still here on earth – before she ever gets to heaven!  That’s why Jesus came, yes – to save us, but also to free us!  From whatever is binding us and holding us back!  So ladies, I asked  … and God gave me the desire of my heart to see my mom set free while she is still here!  He answered my heart’s cry ~ and more!  Every evening when I hear her voice on the phone and I get to pray with her, I hear the voice of my new mom!  I witness what it sounds like to hear her speak in freedom, and in love, joy, and peace!  In the midst of her struggles fighting off some physical issues and pain, there is not one complaint … all I hear is her sound, unshakable trust in her loving Lord.  Now living in a skilled nursing facility so she can receive the care she needs 24/7, she has found contentment and states that God must have her there so she can be a blessing to others!  Amazing, dear ladies, this is nothing short of AMAZING!  And believe me, God IS using her in her new surroundings, for HIS glory!

LADIES, DO YOU KNOW?  The very same can happen to you!  Then I can write YOUR story, because it will be uniquely YOURS, and equally as powerful!  Especially, when we know the beginning to the ending and see God turning things in our lives around!  And it is in the moments of being transparent with those around us that God can use every hurt, every sorrow, every moment of engulfing hopelessness that we’ve experienced – to help someone else!!  Please, I beg you … KNOW that the Lord God is YOURS!  He is on YOUR side!  He is fighting FOR YOU!  He PROMISES to be WITH YOU and to STAY with you!  Whatever you are going through, dear moms and ladies and girls, there is NOTHING too hard for our God – for your God!  You just need to be sure that He IS your God, your Lord and personal Savior!  Then, as His child … everything He has is YOURS for the asking!!  So, if you have not yet asked, just invite Jesus into your heart right now!  Ask Him to forgive your sins and wash you clean, to set you free, and give you the hope of Heaven forever with Him!  Now THAT is a cure for hopelessness!  And if we already know Him, then we need to keep our GAZE on Him so that our circumstances that loom so largely in front of us will shrink and disappear in the view of Who He is!  Ladies, every morning, God’s mercies are ours, and they are fresh and new!  Let’s walk in them, live in them, and dance in them!  May there be SO much of Jesus IN us that the world cannot help but see Who Jesus is when they look at us!  ALL for Jesus ~ that’s who we are and why we live!  Ladies, NOW do you know?!  God celebrates YOU ... and so do we!

Remember  . . .
“See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are!”
I John 3:1
“We KNOW and rely on the love God has for us.” (emphasis mine)
I John 4:16  

Joyfully Serving Christ . . .

Pastor Doug and Debbie




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