THE NEW EWE

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"

Luke 15:4-6

October 5, 2022

LIFE IN THE FOLD

Have you ever had God do something so amazing that you wanted to share.... but on the other hand, knew that some wouldn't believe it or would try to analyze why it wasn't God or a miracle? When things don't make sense, we want to know why or wonder what others will think, and often fail to give God the credit that is due to Him.

Last Friday, I had something like this happen!

I left my house at 7:00 in the morning to meet my nephew, Brian, at a meat processor business to pick up some pork for us and one of my nephews.

I first stopped at the gas station that is really close to my home and filled my car up with gas. My car has a gauge that tracks how many miles I have on a tank of gas; then I will get a low fuel message when I get to about 80 miles. I've had my car since 2014 and that has always been accurate. So when I filled up on Friday morning, it said that I had 544 miles on that tank of gas, and my gas gauge showed a full tank.

It was 119 miles to where I met Brian. The meat was loaded into our vehicles. I got into my car to head back home. When I started the car, I happened to look at my gauges and I still had a completely full tank of gas and my gauge that showed how many miles I had on that tank of gas showed around 544 miles, which is what I had started with. Seeing that I still had a full tank and that the mileage gauge showed that none had been used, my thought was, "Wow! God is multiplying my gas today!" It didn't even cross my mind that both gauges would have stopped working, at the same time, and that it was a mistake. I knew it was God and I was excited!

On my way home, I stopped by my nephews house to drop off his pork. After arriving home, my gauge was on 425 and I still had over three-quarter tank of gas left.

I KNEW, without any doubts, that God had multiplied my gas!

So I googled and did the math on exactly how many miles I had driven. I traveled a total of 241 miles. 119 miles there - then 122 back with the detour by my nephew's house. My mileage gauge for that tank of gas usage, showed that I had only put 119 miles on that tank of gas!

I was reminded of the widow's oil and flour that kept multiplying during the famine back in 1 Kings 17. It wasn't that she had miscalculated or found a hidden barrel of flour or jug of oil, that she had forgotten about; but every day, God gave her what she needed for that day and she never ran out. Elijah wasn't secretly filling her oil and flour every night after she fell asleep. He had nothing himself, and had just spent time drinking from the Brook Cherith with God sending ravens every day to feed him, before the brook dried up and God told him to find the widow.

When you read through the Bible, there are miracles that took place that make no sense on how they happened! It shows that God is creative and can do absolutely impossible things that confounds the hearts and minds of mankind.

I've been teaching on Elijah on Wednesday nights. Last weeks lesson was from 1 Kings 20. King Ben-hadad from Aram attacked Israel twice. Both times the Israelite army was much smaller in comparison to the Aram army. But both times, God gave the victory to the Israelites. He sent a prophet to Ahab to instruct him on what to do and to tell him that Israel would win. Why? Ahab wasn't a godly man and married to the wicked Jezebel. Both times, God had the prophet tell Ahab, "I'm going to do this so you will know that I am the Lord!"

The second battle, scripture says that Israel look like two little flocks of goats, while the enemy army filled the countryside.

Once the battle began, the Israelite army killed 100,000 in one day! The rest of the enemy soldiers ran to the nearest town, and God caused the city wall to fall on top of them, killing another 27,000.

If God can bring a wall down upon the enemy at just the right moment, He can make the gas in my car tank last longer than it should!

Ahab's response was not to acknowledge that God was indeed Lord, even after seeing these miraculous victories over Aram's army. Instead, he signed a treaty with the enemy king. Because of doing so, God send another prophet to Ahab telling him that because he spared the life of the man that God said to destroy, that Ahab would die in Ben-Hadad's place, and that his people would die instead of Ben-Hadad's people.

God wants our obedience. He also wants us to acknowledge that He is Lord. When we see miracles happen, don't try to explain them away as to why they aren't really miracles or why it's not really God working, but we need to be quick to give God glory and honor and praise! Don't sign treaties with the enemy, afterwards, giving Satan entrance into areas of our life where God has already given us a victory.

I want to be quick to testify to the goodness of God and give Him thanks! I want to quickly recognize miracles when they happen and give God glory. I never want to be guilty of trying to figure out why it couldn't possibly be God and trying to come up with other possibilities. By doing so, I'm saying, "I don't think God could possibly do that for me! It doesn't make sense, so there must be another explanation." The truth is, God can do the impossible!

Why did God choose to give me 119 miles of free gas on Friday? Just because He loves me and wanted to bless me and amaze me by His kindness! He wanted me to know that He is Lord, and then to proclaim that fact to others - He is Lord!

Whatever you may be praying about today, or if your faith feels weakened, or if you are in a situation that looks impossible - I want you to know that nothing is too difficult for God!! Look for the miracles and acknowledge them when they happen. Hold fast to hope and never lose faith in God. Read His Word and remind yourself of situations throughout the Bible where He acted on behalf of others and situations that looked impossible were resolved. He is the same yesterday, today and forever and what He did then, He can still do today!

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

We have a relative who was told by one doctor that she would need a surgery based on an MRI scan. The surgeon wanted a CT to see more details to see what kind of surgery she would need. One kind would be much quicker and have a much shorter recovery than the other.

But since the first prognosis, we've been praying that she would be completely healed, and not need any surgery at all. Monday, we got word that the CT showed that she would need the more difficult surgery with a harder and longer recovery.

It has been tempting to give up and assume God isn't going to give us that miracle. And honestly, her family could really use a great miracle in their lives.

I don't know that a miracle would do any good if they have any way they could explain it away as not coming from God. If the CT showed she was healed, maybe they would suspect the MRI scan was poor or misinterpreted. So, I'm praying now that when she goes into surgery, the surgeon will see that she is completely healed, after what the MRI showed and what the CT confirmed. I believe they will have to see that it is a gift from God.

ON THE MENEWE:

Gooey Butter Cake

Grease and flour 9x13 inch pan. Preheat oven to 350.

Bottom layer: Mix cake mix, 2 eggs, and 1 stick melted butter. Spread in bottom of pan. This mixture will be thick.

Topping: Mix 1 (1pound) box powdered sugar with the softened cream cheese and 2 eggs. Combine until thoroughly mixed. Spread over bottom layer.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

While hot, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

When I was a little girl I loved eating sausage for breakfast. One time I told Daddy that I wish he would buy a hog and make all the meat into sausage. I also remember him laughing at me!

My favorite nightly snack was a scrambled egg when I was little. Every night I would go into the refrigerator and get an egg, go into the living room where my mom was, holding the egg behind my back, and say, "Guess what I have?" Of course you could see the refrigerator from our living room so I'm sure she wasn't too surprised. I still have the little old pan that she used to scramble my eggs in at night. Apparently, that made an impression on my sisters. My oldest sister told me once that sometimes after church on Sunday nights she and my brother-in-law will scramble eggs to eat. They will get an egg and hold it behind their back and say, "Guess what I have?!" My goodness, that just now made me laugh when I typed that, picturing them doing that!

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

Why do we lift our hands when we pray and praise?

For the same reason children lift their hands; to be picked up our Father. - unknown

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org