THE NEW EWE
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
July 31, 2024
LIFE
IN THE FOLDI recently had a conversation with a lady who was questioning why sometimes she prayed, yet it seemed as if God didn't answer. One example had happened many years ago. She had felt an urge to pray for her brother, so she did. She later found out that at that exact same time, he had been rock climbing, without using proper equipment. He had fallen at the same time she had begun praying for him. He had really long hair at that time, and it had got caught in the rocks; which is what saved his life. Her question was, "If God wanted me to pray for my brother to be safe, they why did He allow my brother to fall? Why didn't He protect him and keep that from happening?"
I told her that her prayer likely saved her brothers life. Had she not prayed, he may have fallen and died. Had things not happened as they did and he had been perfectly safe while rock climbing, without incident, then she may have questioned why God had asked her to pray for her brother.
She had another example, which I can't remember. She had felt the urge to pray for someone, yet things hadn't happened as she had thought they should.
I believe that our prayers have a lot more power and impact than we could ever imagine. God protects, provides, brings health, and works miraculously because we prayed; yet we fail to recognize all that He does.
Yet there may be times when we've prayed, perhaps for a long time, for a person or situation and it seems as if the answer doesn't happen. Perhaps it seems as if God never answered, because the outcome doesn't look like we think it should.
There is a family that lived nearby where I grew up. I have remained in contact with one of the brothers. The other brother made a lot of bad choices throughout his life. He had gone to church as a teen and had a relationship with the Lord; but over the years had got involved in drugs and alcohol, which had an adverse affect on the outcome of many of his decisions.
A couple years ago, he fell from a ladder and never regained consciousness before passing away. I read comments that were posted upon the news of his death, where there had been a couple people who had had conversations with him about the Lord and felt as if he had recommitted his life to God and was trying to do better. His father had passed away prior to this happening. His mom and brother weren't certain about his relationship with the Lord, which caused them deep grief.
Shortly after this happening, I was mowing our lawn and was praying. Out of the blue, this family came to mind and I had this thought come to mind: "What if God knew that at that very moment, this man was truly repentant and was spiritually ready to die? What if God knew that if he didn't take this man at that time, then he would fall back into sin and would never again be ready for eternity? So out of God's mercy and grace and love for this person, He chose to allow him to die, so that this man could live in heaven forever."
I strongly felt impressed to share that with the brother that I've kept in contact with. He told me that he had had questions about why God would allow this to happen, when his mom had been praying for his brother for many years. He felt as if my words would give her comfort and hope.
We don't always understand God's wisdom and why things happen as they do. Sometimes we may pray for someone and it seems as if their situation gets worse instead of better. God may very well be trying to intervene in their life and bring about change. But God has created us to be people of choice and will free will. God will pursue the lost and will give direction and will do everything He can to draw hearts to Him and cause people to make wise choices. It's not God's fault when people choose to disobey and rebel and do things their own way.
We see that happening in the Old Testament with the people of Israel over and over and over again, from one generation to then next. God spoke to them and sent prophets and did miraculous things! Yet the people would choose to worship idols and would disobey God's commands and would do things their own way. It often took them being taken captive or famine or destruction or plagues or horrible things to get their attention back to God. God would give them warnings and would give them chances to repent, but they would choose to close their ears and continue sinning. Was that God's fault? No! It was the people's fault for disregarding God and ignoring Him and doing what they wanted; even though God was pursuing them and trying to get their attention.
It's the same today. God will give warnings and pursue us and love us and try to get our attention. He desires a relationship with each and every one of us. Is it His fault when people ignore Him and choose to do things their own way? No!
A parent can love their child and do everything they can to raise them correctly and give them advantages and a safe home in which to live. They can teach them about Jesus and raise them in church and pray together as a family. But that child has to choose for themselves whether or not they will have their own personal relationship with God. Sadly, there are times when they choose to ignore God and try to live life their own way, apart from Him. Is that God's fault? Is that the parents' fault... they didn't pray hard enough or failed in some way? No! Each person has to make that choice for themselves.
Never stop praying! Don't allow Satan to lie to you and convince you that God doesn't listen or that prayer is a waste of time. We may not always see results like we would like, but prayer still works! God may answer differently than we expect; but prayer works! Even those people whom we've prayed for their salvation and we question whether or not they repented before they die; we don't know but that at that last second before death claimed them that they said, "Forgive me, Jesus!" I believe that we will see individuals in heaven that we had no idea that they had received salvation before they passed away. Prayer works! We may never know how often God protected us and our family, when we didn't even know it. We may never know how many times God has protected us from sickness and disease. Prayer works!
JON'S
PERSPECTIVE:I'm sure I've shared this before, so I'll summarize it. A man was working on a high roof alone, and began to slide off. He prayed for God to save him. When he got caught on a nail just at the edge, He told God, "Thanks, but never mind. The nail saved me."
It seems all to common to give thanks to anything or anyone except God. Even while the Israelites were making their way away from Egypt, they gave thanks for their escape to an idol.
Now, we don't even consider idols. But people are quick to give credit to luck, nature, our own skills, fate, or similar. It might be a little closer to thank love or goodness. I don't know how many times, I've heard, "Love will... find a way" (or similar), and "Thank goodness." I think both are giving credit to God, but by the wrong names.
There's nothing wrong with saying, "Thank God!" as often as you feel like it. I don't know how some people have gotten the notion there's something wrong with it. I've even heard someone say it is "taking the name of the Lord in vain", but I never understood how they could think it's in vain.
We should all get practice at it. When you see a beautiful sunrise or sunset, say, "Lord, thank you for showing that to me." When you wake up without back pain, say, "Thank you, God!" When you make it through a green light just as it turns yellow, say, "Thank God." It's good exercise, and feels good.
ON
THE MENEWE:This is my favorite way to cook meat in the crockpot. It's delicious and easy -- which I like. Do not add any water or added liquid to these recipes.
Beef Roast: Place roast in crockpot. Sprinkle a package of Au Jus gravy mix over the top. Place a stick of butter on top. That's it! Cover and cook until meat is tender. If you would like, you could also add gloves of garlic or sweet banana peppers on top of the meat, for added flavor.
Pork Roast: Place roast in crockpot. Sprinkle a package of Onion Soup Mix over the top. Place a stick of butter over the top. Cook until tender.
Boneless Chicken: Place chicken in the crockpot (frozen works well, too). Sprinkle with Onion Soup Mix; place a stick of butter over the top. Cook until tender. This is delicious eating like this.... or you can shred to use for chicken and dumplings.... chicken salad.... casseroles...
THIS,
THAT AND THE OTHER:I love looking back and finding memories that I had forgotten about. Jax is now 15 years old!! Hard to believe this happened 10 years ago. Time flies!
This is a conversation that happened between my niece, Janee', and her 5 year old son, Jax; who just happened to have a loose front tooth at the time:
Jax: "What if I lose my tooth?" (as in 'misplace it')
Janee': "I'm going to tell you something... I'm really the tooth fairy. Even if you lose it, I'll still give you a dollar."
Jax: "Really!?! You can fly? I thought the tooth fairy was small, but I guess you can grow or shrink."
That didn't go quite like Janee' had planned!!
THOUGHT
TO PONDER:Where you find yourself right now,
remember that this is not a surprise to God. - TobyMac
OUR
HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:We love you!
Loretta & Jon