BECAUSE OF WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE, I WILL NOT BE SILENT.
Hard times come in life. It happens to us all. One day we wake up and then BAM! Life as we knew it just isn’t the same. There goes the job…the house…the loved one…the health. Everything that was once all daises and roses is now a tough road leading to Who-Knows-Where.
We think life is going exactly the way we had planned, and then we realize that we may be going down a different path. Not one that we had once planned for ourselves, but a plan that God has for us. We get sucked into the lie that life is all about us, but God wants and desires a bigger and better plan for our lives.
…but God.
Two of my absolute FAVORITE words throughout the entire Scripture are “but God.” or when Jesus says, “but I tell you”. Jesus loves taking what we have been told by the world and changing our perspective to what God says about the world in which we live. Go look! All through the Bible God is in the habit of taking what people thought and turning their beliefs around.
“…..and you were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…” (Ephesians 2:3-4, bold mine)
“For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” (Romans 5:7-9, bold mine)
Tonight, October 18, 2015, I was reminded that the Spirit of the Lord is alive and working. Since the end of July the bones on the tops of both of my feet have been hurting very badly to play basketball. The pain is very dull when I walk around in every day life, but right when I start to play my feet feel like they are about to break in half. To make a long story (somewhat) short, I have not been able to condition or practice with the team for the past month because my feet have not gotten any better. The pain is still there. The frustration of sitting on the sidelines is growing. And the struggle is most definitely, real.
Two days ago, Friday, I went to go get 2 MRI’s… one on each foot… to see what the problem is (stress fractures, etc.). The doctors that read the MRI’s do not work on Saturday or Sunday so that left me, impatient Alex, having to wait until Monday to get my results back to see if I can play or not.
For the past week my sweet Mom has been asking me to get my friends at Ethos to pray for my feet, but in my pride I did not want to. Yes, my feet are hurting and they have been hurting for a few months now. But I did not want prayers specifically for healing for my feet. I just longed for the Lord’s will to be done. Whether that means I get to play an entire season healthy or I have to sit out and let my feet rest and get better…I just want God’s will to be done.
Let me just tell you, the Spirit of the Lord is alive and well and He is longing to reveal to His children that God, THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE, is with us. He hears us. He wants us to pray and get others to pray for things that are important in our lives. And that’s exactly what Jesus did tonight through the power, THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
At the end of the 5 o’clock service at the Ruby, Larkin (our campus Pastor) came up to the mic before everyone left and said, “I may be completely wrong, but I feel like the Holy Spirit is telling me that there is a lot of physical pain going on in this room, and I just want to ask everyone to hold out there hands so we can pray.”
Tears. Falling from my cheeks. How did Larkin know that I had been experiencing physical pain in my feet for months now? How did he know that I needed prayer, but I was too afraid/prideful to ask? Truth is, Larkin had no stinkin’ idea, but God did.
After the service was over and almost everyone had left the Ruby, I stopped Larkin and (started crying, go figure) thanked him for speaking what the Holy Spirit was saying to him because my feet had been hurting and I have been waiting and wondering what my MRI results were going to say when I get them back. Then Larkin and two of my friends prayed over me and I was just crying my eyes out because GOD KNOWS WHAT WE NEED. Even when we do not want to speak up for ourselves, the Holy Spirit will speak up and rock our world for us.
But wait, there’s more.
Then I went to the prayer gathering that Ethos holds every Sunday night. No joke, every Sunday is just alive with the Spirit of the Lord. I actually don’t even know how to explain the power with human words.
During prayer gathering I was sitting down practically journaling my hand off about what the Lord had done through Larkin at the Ruby. Then Dave, one of our Pastors, came up to me and said he felt like he needed to pray for me and asked if there was anything specifically he could pray for.
Coincidence? I think not. Jesus is cool like that.
Of course, the tears start flowing again. I told Dave about the feet struggles over the past few months and how overwhelmed I was about what the Holy Spirit spoke through Larkin at the Ruby earlier. Dave then asked if he could pray for me and he brought Brandon and Aaron (two of our other Pastors) over to pray for me as well.
Did I mention that Dave had a broken finger and Aaron was in a sling because he sprained his shoulder? Talk about the broken praying for the broken…literally.
I was speechless. I was weeping. I was consumed with how amazing and wonderful- no joke, FULL OF WONDER- at how the good Lord works. This past week I hadn’t wanted to ask anyone to pray over me…but God just decided to send the prayer warriors to me. This is what a good Father does for his children. He gives us exactly what we need at His proper time. Was God’s timing perfect or what?
During the prayer another girl came up from across the room and said she felt the Holy Spirit telling her to pray for someone’s feet (….like are you kidding me?) and she came and prayed as well.
Mind= blown.
Tears= uncontrollable.
GOD, YOU WORK IN SO MANY COOL WAYS I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO WRITE.
There really are no words to explain what the Lord did tonight except that He revealed himself. I count my feet being hurt as joy because if my feet were not hurt I would not have had the experience of seeing the Holy Spirit work through not 1, not 2, but 6+ people tonight.
Thank you Jesus that I had my MRI Friday and I am not able to get my results until Monday. If I would have gotten my results immediately I would not have been able to see your great power at work.
I thought I knew what this year would hold. A year filled with awesome friendships, a good basketball season and no injuries to set me back. But God has a different plan. And with that I am perfectly fine.
I will not get my results back from the doctor until later this afternoon, but what does it matter? God is going to be most glorified whether I am running up and down a court or cheering on my team from the sidelines. I count whatever I hear from the doctor as a great result because I have tasted and seen the glory of the Lord through an injury and I could not ask for anything better.
Hard times come in life. It happens to us all. One day we wake up and then BAM! Life as we knew it just isn’t the same. There goes the job…the house…the loved one…the health. Everything that was once all daises and roses is now a tough road leading to Who-Knows-Where.
We think life is going exactly the way we had planned, and then we realize that we may be going down a different path. Not one that we had once planned for ourselves, but a plan that God has for us. We get sucked into the lie that life is all about us, but God wants and desires a bigger and better plan for our lives.
…but God.
Two of my absolute FAVORITE words throughout the entire Scripture are “but God.” or when Jesus says, “but I tell you”. Jesus loves taking what we have been told by the world and changing our perspective to what God says about the world in which we live. Go look! All through the Bible God is in the habit of taking what people thought and turning their beliefs around.
“…..and you were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…” (Ephesians 2:3-4, bold mine)
“For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” (Romans 5:7-9, bold mine)
Tonight, October 18, 2015, I was reminded that the Spirit of the Lord is alive and working. Since the end of July the bones on the tops of both of my feet have been hurting very badly to play basketball. The pain is very dull when I walk around in every day life, but right when I start to play my feet feel like they are about to break in half. To make a long story (somewhat) short, I have not been able to condition or practice with the team for the past month because my feet have not gotten any better. The pain is still there. The frustration of sitting on the sidelines is growing. And the struggle is most definitely, real.
Two days ago, Friday, I went to go get 2 MRI’s… one on each foot… to see what the problem is (stress fractures, etc.). The doctors that read the MRI’s do not work on Saturday or Sunday so that left me, impatient Alex, having to wait until Monday to get my results back to see if I can play or not.
For the past week my sweet Mom has been asking me to get my friends at Ethos to pray for my feet, but in my pride I did not want to. Yes, my feet are hurting and they have been hurting for a few months now. But I did not want prayers specifically for healing for my feet. I just longed for the Lord’s will to be done. Whether that means I get to play an entire season healthy or I have to sit out and let my feet rest and get better…I just want God’s will to be done.
Let me just tell you, the Spirit of the Lord is alive and well and He is longing to reveal to His children that God, THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE, is with us. He hears us. He wants us to pray and get others to pray for things that are important in our lives. And that’s exactly what Jesus did tonight through the power, THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
At the end of the 5 o’clock service at the Ruby, Larkin (our campus Pastor) came up to the mic before everyone left and said, “I may be completely wrong, but I feel like the Holy Spirit is telling me that there is a lot of physical pain going on in this room, and I just want to ask everyone to hold out there hands so we can pray.”
Tears. Falling from my cheeks. How did Larkin know that I had been experiencing physical pain in my feet for months now? How did he know that I needed prayer, but I was too afraid/prideful to ask? Truth is, Larkin had no stinkin’ idea, but God did.
After the service was over and almost everyone had left the Ruby, I stopped Larkin and (started crying, go figure) thanked him for speaking what the Holy Spirit was saying to him because my feet had been hurting and I have been waiting and wondering what my MRI results were going to say when I get them back. Then Larkin and two of my friends prayed over me and I was just crying my eyes out because GOD KNOWS WHAT WE NEED. Even when we do not want to speak up for ourselves, the Holy Spirit will speak up and rock our world for us.
But wait, there’s more.
Then I went to the prayer gathering that Ethos holds every Sunday night. No joke, every Sunday is just alive with the Spirit of the Lord. I actually don’t even know how to explain the power with human words.
During prayer gathering I was sitting down practically journaling my hand off about what the Lord had done through Larkin at the Ruby. Then Dave, one of our Pastors, came up to me and said he felt like he needed to pray for me and asked if there was anything specifically he could pray for.
Coincidence? I think not. Jesus is cool like that.
Of course, the tears start flowing again. I told Dave about the feet struggles over the past few months and how overwhelmed I was about what the Holy Spirit spoke through Larkin at the Ruby earlier. Dave then asked if he could pray for me and he brought Brandon and Aaron (two of our other Pastors) over to pray for me as well.
Did I mention that Dave had a broken finger and Aaron was in a sling because he sprained his shoulder? Talk about the broken praying for the broken…literally.
I was speechless. I was weeping. I was consumed with how amazing and wonderful- no joke, FULL OF WONDER- at how the good Lord works. This past week I hadn’t wanted to ask anyone to pray over me…but God just decided to send the prayer warriors to me. This is what a good Father does for his children. He gives us exactly what we need at His proper time. Was God’s timing perfect or what?
During the prayer another girl came up from across the room and said she felt the Holy Spirit telling her to pray for someone’s feet (….like are you kidding me?) and she came and prayed as well.
Mind= blown.
Tears= uncontrollable.
GOD, YOU WORK IN SO MANY COOL WAYS I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO WRITE.
There really are no words to explain what the Lord did tonight except that He revealed himself. I count my feet being hurt as joy because if my feet were not hurt I would not have had the experience of seeing the Holy Spirit work through not 1, not 2, but 6+ people tonight.
Thank you Jesus that I had my MRI Friday and I am not able to get my results until Monday. If I would have gotten my results immediately I would not have been able to see your great power at work.
I thought I knew what this year would hold. A year filled with awesome friendships, a good basketball season and no injuries to set me back. But God has a different plan. And with that I am perfectly fine.
I will not get my results back from the doctor until later this afternoon, but what does it matter? God is going to be most glorified whether I am running up and down a court or cheering on my team from the sidelines. I count whatever I hear from the doctor as a great result because I have tasted and seen the glory of the Lord through an injury and I could not ask for anything better.