Friday 27 July 2012

Answered Prayers


In Ma's comments yesterday I wrote:

I don't go for the "name it and claim it" stuff, but the Lord does want us to be persistent in asking, [however] sometimes He has something else in mind than what we are asking for...only He knows the full picture, we only see it in part, and then we ask amiss because we narrowly desire something that misses that bigger picture.

It is truly a trust issue, where even if our prayers seem to fail, God never fails in doing the right thing.


Lucy has been improving, Praise the Lord! She looks much different from that picture (above) taken about a year and a half ago. Her latest test came up clear of cancer, and the fact that she still lives is of course truly a miracle. 
However, if we don't get what we ask for, if Lucy had passed away, could it be because we didn't ask enough? Or didn't say the "right words"? Or because God forgot about showing us His mercy in her situation? 

There are many times He answers "no" to our requests for healing. Why is that?

A young woman I work with recently had a surgery to try to solve her sleep apnea problems. She is a beautiful person, inside and out. She always had kind things to say about others. She had a beautiful laugh and a gorgeous smile. She's an architect who just prior to her surgery, did some work for FEMA. She loves helping people. The day after her surgery a few months ago, she lapsed into a coma. She came out of the coma a couple of weeks later, barely functioning, barely and only sometimes able to follow simple commands. We who know her beg the Lord for a healing touch to restore the beautiful friend and family member to us. So far the answer has been "no"... or maybe it is "wait". 

I think about the lessons Jesus taught with His life while He was here amongst us. Why did He wait until Lazarus was completely dead before restoring him? Weren't his sister's faithful enough in their prayers and their grief? And what about those who do not ever have their loved ones restored to them in this life? Does it mean that they (or the Lord? we know this would be impossible, but there are those of course who blame to Lord for not giving them a "yes" to their requests for healing) were not faithful? Does the Lord always allow sickness for the reason of displaying His awesome power of healing through answered prayer? If He doesn't heal is it because we are doing something wrong?... because He is angry with us over some other thing that He is punishing us for? Is it to teach us patience and trust in Him, even in losing such precious loved ones?

I really don't know the answer to these questions. I don't know why He sometimes answers "yes" and other times in seemingly identical situations the answer is "no". Certainly we need to continue to be persistent in our asking.

Luk 11:5  And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
Luk 11:6  For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
Luk 11:7  And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
Luk 11:8  I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
Luk 11:9  And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Luk 11:10  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Luk 11:11  If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Luk 11:12  Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
Luk 11:13  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Is this promising a complete healing in this life, of body, mind and soul? Or is this talking about something else?

But, like I stated in Ma's comments section, we might not know why the Lord does (or doesn't do) what He does, but He does know what He is doing, and He does it perfectly even when it isn't the way we think it would best showcase His love and perfection. He is perfect. Our understanding of that is not perfect, not even close. Everything, the good, the bad, and everything in between, will end up for good in those who are His and called according to His purpose. I cling to that promise. (Romans 8:28)

Added thought:

 ...thinking more about this....what disturbs me about this is that it seems like we look to God as a genie that we have to "rub the right way" to get what we want.... like we are his experimental creatures along the lines of "Pavlov's dogs". I know this isn't what our relationship with Him should be, however it often strikes me that often what I see is that kind of conditioning in how we are to ask and receive, and I don't think that is what the Lord desires of us at all.
 

Wednesday 25 July 2012

Pictures

I confess that I'm not very good at the techy part of picture taking, it took me almost an hour just to figure out how to unload my memory card onto my computer (I usually wait until I get someone to do it for me, sheesh)....

The first image is one I took (in Michigan) July 17th. I decided to stop at the store after work. When I came out of the store, pushing my full shopping cart, I looked up and saw a gorgeous cloud capped with golden light. By the time I got to my car and got the camera out, the golden top had reduced to a small outline of what looked so glorious a minute before:






Sorry I missed it, If I only quit shopping a minute or two earlier!

A few that I took July 9th (also Michigan):









Some pictures I took two and a half weeks ago while in Canada turned out kinda nice. I've been wanting to take some pictures of farms and barns. Here's a sampling:











These were "snapped up" while driving. You can see a bit of motion blur in the foreground.

These were also taken the same day, just driving around:










and a couple of pictures of someone's little home that I just love:





 and these that I took just before leaving Canada (St Claire, Ontario):






and on ferry , leaving Somba, Ontario back to Marine City, Michigan:



Thursday 12 July 2012

Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt

I received the following email and agree that this is information that needs to be shared and passed on, so I am:
First of all, I hope that you don't mind me contacting you. My name is Guy Evans and with my co-host James Wilson, we have started a podcast called 'Smells Like Human Spirit'. The podcast, which is designed to be informative and entertaining, discusses world events, the current state of human consciousness, cultural trends, and more. 

I thought that you and your readers may be interested to know that on Wednesday 11th July, we interviewed Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt, author of 'The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America' and Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education during the first term of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. In our talk, we discussed, among other things:

The deliberate intent of those in government to use the classroom as a springboard to promote collectivism over individualism;
The shifting focus in Education from that of true learning to workforce training;
How operant conditioning is used to establish a stimulus-response culture in schools;
Why the self-proclaimed 'elites' view human beings as resources to serve economies;
The internationalist approach to Education and its link to proposed world government. 

The episode is on Youtube at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G3xAb9wI1w The mp3 for download is up on iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/smells-like-human-spirit-podcast/id530984313); while people can also access www.smellslikepodcast.com for an archive of all episodes of the podcast, and join the podcast community page at www.facebook.com/smellslikehumanspirit.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could post this on your blog, and let me know what you think.

Many thanks,
Guy.
I hope you will take time to look up other Youtube interviews with Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt. She is a very bright woman that got a "behind the scenes glimpse" of what is going on, and who doesn't mince words. Also, if you glance to the right side bar you will see some links that I keep posted there on this topic  :)

Like Dorothy said to Toto: "I don't think we are in Kansas anymore".