Monday Morning Memo: Miracles DO Happen!

Oh, how I dreaded the appointment.  I had prayed for good news…but honestly, I didn’t think we would get it.  I guess I lacked faith…I really didn’t think deep down that God would answer my prayers and the prayers of so many.

Let me give you the Reader’s Digest version I’m referring to.  Seven and a half weeks ago, my 93-year-old mother-in-law fell and shattered her ankle.  It was bad…really bad.  Surgery was performed and because of Covid restrictions, I was the only one who would get the report from the doctor.  He explained to me that he had to “build” her an ankle…there really wasn’t much left of her natural one.  And to make it worse, she has Multiple Myeloma, making her bones extremely soft, which didn’t help his prognosis.  

He told me that she wouldn’t be able to put any weight on that foot for at least 2-3 months and it could easily be much longer.  I then asked the million-dollar question, “Will she ever walk again?”.  He lowered his head, took a deep breath, and replied, “Maybe”.  I remember just sitting there for a few moments after he walked away…thinking how hard this would be on Mom.  She would hate not being able to get around on her own and be confined to a wheelchair.  We were all in for a long road ahead.

Three weeks after her surgery, we returned for her first check-up.  The doctor showed us the x-ray so we could see the screws and plates that were now a part of her anatomy.  Once again, he explained that she had a long recovery ahead and brought up again the fact that her bones were so soft.  He told us to return in a month for another x-ray and to see how much healing had occurred.  He said he would re-evaluate at that time whether she could start putting any weight on that foot…but he didn’t hold out much hope.

For the next four weeks we prayed.  Many of you prayed, for which we can never thank you enough.  I personally prayed that the next set of x-rays would amaze her doctor…that he would be surprised at how much healing had occurred.  But again…as much as I wanted this to be the case…my faith was weak in believing it would really happen.

That appointment was last Wednesday and that was the one I was dreading.  Mom was convinced that he would tell her she could start putting weight on her foot and I thought she was in for a big disappointment.  All day long I tried to think of what I would say to her after we met with the doctor…what words I would use to encourage her and to help her not to be discouraged.  I wished that someone else could take her for that meeting…because I just couldn’t bring myself to watch her be so devastated when she didn’t get the news she so desperately wanted to hear.

The x-ray was taken and we waited to meet with the doctor to get the results.  He walked in the room and we exchanged some small talk and then the conversation went like this:

Dr: “Well, the ankle looks good…I think she can start wearing a shoe on that foot.”

Me: “Great, so does that mean she can start putting a little weight on it?”

Dr: “No, that means she can start walking.  Her ankle is completely healed.”

Let me interject at this point…because I was now in complete shock.  I know my mouth was wide open and my eyes had to be like saucers.

Me: “What do you mean by being completely healed?”

Dr: “Look at this x-ray.  Four weeks ago, you can clearly see where the break was.  On today’s x-ray, we can’t even see the break at all.  Her ankle looks normal…it is completely healed.  She doesn’t even need to come back to see me.  She can resume walking because her ankle is healed.”

By this point, tears were rolling down my cheeks.  My first words were “Praise the Lord!” and then I told the doctor that many people had been praying and that I believed Mom was healed because of those prayers and this was a miracle.  The doctor totally agreed.  He said the amount of healing that occurred in her ankle in four weeks was not normal…that it had to be a result of prayer. 

I’ve wondered at times why we don’t see miracles today like they witnessed in Biblical times…well I’m here to tell you…I’ve now witnessed a modern-day one!  We feel humbled and blessed beyond measure that God touched Mom in such a powerful way.  And believe it or not…this isn’t the first miracle for Mom.  When she was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma seven years ago, they said she had two…maybe three years left on this earth…but of course she has proved them wrong.  

I don’t know what or who you are praying for today…but I’m here to remind you that we serve an all-powerful God who is still in the miracle business.  Keep praying.  Keep believing.  Keep trusting.  Keep putting your faith in the God who can and will do far more than you can even imagine.  He alone is worthy of our praise and we give Him ALL the glory for the great things He has done!

“He does great things too marvelous to understand.
    He performs countless miracles.”

Job 5:9

Are you looking for a Bible study to do this summer?  Check out my YouTube channel, Image Seeker, at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0szlDSgNBtFuzzNLBWzwMA.  The entire study can be found there and you can watch it by yourself or with your small group.  Subscribe today so you won’t miss any new studies!

If you would like encouraging thoughts to help you in your daily walk with Jesus, check out and “Like” my Facebook page, “Image Seeker”…you can find it at https://www.facebook.com/Image-Seeker-109914611136211/news_feed.  

And, if you aren’t on Facebook but would still like to see encouraging posts and notices of new videos…”Follow” me on Instagram.  Just search for “The Image Seeker”

Monday Morning Memo: Sharing the Recipe

I was doing some organizing the other day and moved some of my cookbooks.  I probably own way more of them than I should…but I love trying new recipes and I find that church cookbooks usually have many tried and true concoctions that are worth making.  My biggest problem is that I try a new recipe and then forget to make note of it and when I want to make it again…I have no idea where it is 

In perusing some of these books, it wasn’t just the recipes that caught my attention, because on the second page of one of them was a saying which made me do some thinking.  It said:

A recipe that is not shared with others

will soon be forgotten,

but when it is shared

it will be enjoyed by future generations.

How true this is.  There have been many wonderful recipes which were lost somewhere down the line of descendants.  Grandma or even great grandma had creations that were loved by many…but were often just in their head and not on paper.  As a result, future generations are just told about the delicious dishes, but never get to experience them.    

This made me think about the recipes I have shared with others.  Without a doubt, every recipe I have ever shared has been one I love.  Each recipe has been one that I have made and really like its taste.  I can’t remember one time that I shared a recipe with a friend or family member and said, “Now I hated this recipe.  It just tastes awful and it made me feel like puking….but I thought you might want to try it.”  That would be ridiculous.  

No, I share a recipe because I love it.  I want to tell others how good it tasted and that it was well worth my time putting the ingredients together.  I want others to enjoy it just as much as I did and so I make the effort to copy down the ingredients and the instructions or I send the internet link to the website where it can be found.  I like the recipe enough to deem it worthwhile of my time to pass it on.  

Honestly, I had to shake my head as I thought about this these last few days.  I deem something as relatively unimportant as a recipe, worthy of my time to pass on.  But something such as my love for Christ, my knowledge of His dying for my sins and for the sins of my family and friends, and I’m sometimes too busy to pass it on.  I rationalize my laziness because I figure it is just too personal to let others know how I feel, and so I keep it to myself.  

As a result, the life I live will soon be forgotten.  When I pass on, there won’t be anything for others to remember about me that will make a difference in how they live.  The faith that I have, the passion I have for my Savior, will be lost in future generations because I didn’t care enough, or have the courage enough, to pass it on.  

Ahhhh, but if I DO share it with my family and friends and those whom I encounter, it WILL be enjoyed by future generations.  It WILL have an impact on the lives of those who will come after me and hopefully it WILL have an impact on eternity.  

You see, as Christians we hold the “recipe” for those who are lost…to be found in Christ.  But if we don’t share it with them, they may never know.  Our friends, our family, and those we meet each day deserve to know and so do all the generations yet to be born.  Let’s be intentional in the days to come to pass it on…so it will never be forgotten.

Are you looking for a Bible study to do this summer?  Check out my YouTube channel, Image Seeker, at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0szlDSgNBtFuzzNLBWzwMA.  The entire study can be found there and you can watch it by yourself or with your small group.  Subscribe today so you won’t miss any new studies!

If you would like encouraging thoughts to help you in your daily walk with Jesus, check out and “Like” my Facebook page, “Image Seeker”…you can find it at https://www.facebook.com/Image-Seeker-109914611136211/news_feed.  

And, if you aren’t on Facebook but would still like to see encouraging posts and notices of new videos…”Follow” me on Instagram.  Just search for “The Image Seeker”

 

Monday Morning Memo: A Day to Remember

Yesterday was a bittersweet day in our church.  God blessed us with a gorgeous day to have an outdoor service as our much-loved Pastor shared with us for the last time as the Shepherd of our flock.  Oh, we hated to see him and his beautiful wife, Kay, leave us.  They are such an amazing example of what leaders should look like in a church and we will miss them terribly.

What has always impressed me about our Pastor, was that he never put himself above others.  Many times, I left the service and told him that he had stepped all over my toes in his sermon that day.  In fact, after a recent Sunday, I “accused” him of following me the previous week, because I was convinced he would have had to do that to know the precise words I needed to hear.  His response was always the same.  He would smile and say he only shared whatever God had already stepped all over his own toes about.  In other words, he wanted to convey that he had struggles and maybe some rough edges that God needed to work on too…just like me.  He wanted his flock to know that we are all on this journey of faith together…with God at the helm of our congregation.

As much as we hate to see Pastor Gary and Kay go, we know that Hope Church will go on being a light shining in a dark world.  The reason I know that is because Pastor Gary didn’t build our church around him…but totally focused on our Lord Jesus Christ.  Over and over again, he urged us to get on our knees…to cry out to our Heavenly Father…to seek His image in everything that we do.  Time and time again he encouraged us to spend time reading God’s Word and then put into practice what God laid on our heart.  Pastor Gary never wanted any glory or recognition for himself…he always pointed us towards our Savior and because of that…Hope Church won’t miss a beat.  Our foundation isn’t in a human man…but in an eternal God who never changes, never leaves us, never lets us down.

If you aren’t a part of a Bible believing, prayer focused church, I want to urge you to find one.  There just isn’t anything better than doing life with others who are always challenging you to be a better follower of Christ.  I often fall so short, but my brothers and sisters in Christ are willing to love me anyway, helping me to keep my focus on the One who is worthy of my devotion and praise.  

We wish Pastor Gary and Kay the very best as they retire and continue to serve Jesus wherever He leads them.  And we will welcome Pastor Mark Wilson and his wife Carla with open arms, as they come to take over leading our flock.  We are so excited to see where and how God will lead us and mold us in the days ahead to look more and more like Him.  To God be the Glory…great things HE has done!

“Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
but to your name goes all the glory
for your unfailing love and faithfulness.”

Psalm 115:1

 

Are you looking for a Bible study to do this summer?  Check out my YouTube channel, Image Seeker, at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0szlDSgNBtFuzzNLBWzwMA.  The entire study can be found there and you can watch it by yourself or with your small group.  Subscribe today so you won’t miss any new studies!

If you would like encouraging thoughts to help you in your daily walk with Jesus, check out and “Like” my Facebook page, “Image Seeker”…you can find it at https://www.facebook.com/Image-Seeker-109914611136211/news_feed.  

And, if you aren’t on Facebook but would still like to see encouraging posts and notices of new videos…”Follow” me on Instagram.  Just search for “The Image Seeker”

Monday Morning Memo: Get Going!

Sometimes there is a verse in the Bible that just jumps off the page.  It might be one that I have read many times before and it had no impact at the time...but then suddenly it’s as if it has a spotlight on it.  This is what happened with 2 Chronicles 31:21 which says this about Hezekiah:  “In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly.  And so he prospered.”  WOW.  Is this really possible?

I haven’t been able to get that verse out of my mind.  Everything.  Not some things...not a few things...not just when it was convenient or easy...everything he did, Hezekiah sought his God and worked wholeheartedly.  I’m confident that these words can’t be said about me.  I wish they could...but unfortunately, “me” gets in the way too often.  I want to seek God and work wholeheartedly...but there are times when the going gets tough and I give up.  I deem it as too big of a sacrifice to give everything that I have, so I back off and hope someone else picks up the pieces.

What was the result of Hezekiah’s complete devotion to his God?  He prospered.  What that tells me is that we can’t outgive God!  Yes, I’m sure Hezekiah had to sacrifice a lot to do whatever God asked of him, but in turn, God abundantly blessed him.  No matter how much we do for God...He gives us more!

This makes me wonder then what blessings I have missed.  What was God waiting to do for me, but because I gave up, I didn’t receive the blessings?  What was just around the corner, or just over the hill in my life that would have just “blown my socks off” in amazement because I would have seen His power at work...but instead I was left feeling empty and unfulfilled?

I’m sure you have heard the saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.  Wikipedia says this about this adage:  In context, “the going” means “the situation”, “gets tough” means “becomes difficult”, “the tough” means “people who are strong or enduring”, and “get going” means “become fully engaged”.  Taken together, the meaning of the phrase is “When the situation becomes difficult, the strong will work harder to meet the challenge”.  

That is exactly what we are called to do.  When the road gets tough..we are to dig our heels in and just work all the harder to meet the challenge.  “Giving up” should not be in our vocabulary.  We are to give our all in everything God leads us to do, remembering that our God is faithful and true and powerful enough to see us through.  Hezekiah’s life proves to us that it IS possible to live our lives this way and we need to learn from his example.

I hope you will join me in turning the corners and going over the hills that are in our future to see what is waiting for us.  Let’s seek our God and work wholeheartedly for Him.  I can’t promise that it will be easy, but I can promise you that it WILL be worth it!

Are you looking for a Bible study to do this summer?  Check out my YouTube channel, Image Seeker, at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0szlDSgNBtFuzzNLBWzwMA.  The entire study can be found there and you can watch it by yourself or with your small group.  Subscribe today so you won’t miss any new studies!

If you would like encouraging thoughts to help you in your daily walk with Jesus, check out and “Like” my Facebook page, “Image Seeker”…you can find it at https://www.facebook.com/Image-Seeker-109914611136211/news_feed.  

And, if you aren’t on Facebook but would still like to see encouraging posts and notices of new videos…”Follow” me on Instagram.  Just search for “The Image Seeker”