a perspective of praise

Well it is a rainy Monday in Southern BC. The river is flooding, the trees are green and we are down to only a few days until we leave. I can't help but be overwhelmed and moved to tears this morning. God is truly so very good to us.We spent yesterday puttering around the yard and doing the last minute  oil changes etc.... We had an amazing time of fellowship with Pastor Joe and Denise and Joe's Mom May. We had a lunch here at our place at the lake and then talked R.V's as we often do. We bid each other fairwell, plotting map's and approximate times where our paths may cross over the next few months. They prayed for us before they left and Bill and I just basked in the grace that has been shown to us. We headed into the River Valley church for a Monday night prayer and worship meeting. Bill brought out his guitar and we all worshiped and prayed together until well after Ella's bed time :).

I just want to post some of the highlights of our amazing last week. Bill and I were a bit nervous when we got all geared up to head North, would there be enough providence to pay the bills while we were there? It is a long trip and will be at least $1000.00 in fuel towing our fifth wheel. Bill has had more than enough work here and we are feeling confident heading to Atlin. We prayed together for the Lord to open doors for work while we are up in the North and almost immediately Bill's phone has been going off the hook. We have several big jobs to do in Whitehorse, and Atlin and even a job in Tagish. We have almost being feeling embarrassed by the out pouring of God's providence to us this past week, all the details have just fallen into place. We received a call from the only RV park in Atlin and he is needing someone to look after it for a few weeks while he is away due to family circumstances, so there is our RV slip paid for a good chunk of the time we will be there!  Detail after detail, things just keep falling into place.

As we load groceries and clothing into the RV, I just can't help but be so excited about what God has in store for us. We have had an interesting session of opposition which I am not going to write about, because I don't feel like giving the enemy the glory of even putting it to paper. Through it all though, we have known what it is and where it is coming from and have been able to maintain a sense of peace. Bill and I as a couple made a commitment to stand and hold an attitude of praise. It is difficult at first when things go wrong our gut reaction is to get all upset and lament, but with practice it becomes easier and easier to find the good in the situation and praise through it. I realize that this is just the beginning of a way of life we are hoping to maintain, and that there will be lot's of things to practice over! The other day my brother cut his hand with a circular saw and I got the call to help him with his son while he went for stitches. I was prepared for the worst when I arrived and started praying the second the key was in the ignition of the Ford,  when I got down the hill  to my brothers place I was relieved that all his fingers where attached. I immediately started to praise and be thankful that God had saved him from something much worse, and wouldn't you know it, halfway to the hospital even my brother was in better spirits and able to see the grace in the situation. That and it got him a couple of hours off work! :)

Pastor Gabe hit the nail on the head again in his Sunday sermon. If we are looking for something to complain about, we will find it. So many of us show up expecting to be disappointed to what ever it is in our lives, and sure enough you will be disappointed. Please join in prayers with us that we will ALL be able to stand in a position of praise, maintain our peace and joy. I believe that JOY is what sets us apart from all the others on the street, not self righteous or accusing attitudes, but joy that we have in our hearts!  I think when others see JOY and LOVE in our lives they will be attracted to that. Who wants to be a down trodden miserable Christian! Again, Pastor Gabe thank you, this line of your sermon will stay with me forever I hope............when others go on about what God isn't doing in their lives I WILL testify to what HE is doing!


No matter were you are at today I encourage you to seek His face, and put things into a perspective of praise and thank Him. You will be surprised to see how much more thankful you will feel at the end of the day. Go ahead and love each other today.

prayers for Slave Lake, Alberta

Well another week has passed, I keep thinking that I will be posting every couple of days, but that just doesn't seem to happen.We are at 13 days 'til lift off today. The list of things to do is pretty substantial. The new trailer has a few issues, and we will need to decide, when , how and where the work will take place. Yes, you can be sure that I am thankful for having an RV Tech for a brother, the who would be doing the work was decided immediately! Last week of course had some difficulties, but I am over whelmed with a sense of peace, that things are just going to work out how God wants them to. I have surrendered this to do list over to Him, because there are just way too many details to worry about, even for a details girl like me!
While this is easy enough to say, it is difficult to fully walk out, because what if He doesn't work things out the way I want them to go? Just saying.............and that is  whole other rambling!

This morning my prayers turned to Slave Lake, Alberta, where a massive fire is burning and the entire town has been evacuated. There are times when the magnitude of loss is far to great for my  mind to comprehend. I struggle with attitudes that I hear, like " well it's a sign of the times". You do not have to be a scientist or spiritual guru to see there are troubles with the weather and the political climate. You only need  to watch the news. Not everyone is called to be a missionary, or preacher, or teacher, but we are ALL called to pray. Pray for one another and love one  another. Prayer makes all the difference. It is our instruction from our Father to pray.
This mornings prayer brought me to this, it takes too little faith to resign to  the attitude that these are signs of the times and there is nothing we can do. I thought about the line of scripture we use so often, for we walk by faith and not by sight. Try it, close your eyes and walk through your house, it's work, faith is work. It takes commitment and there will be trials.  It is a gift, an amazing gift that is complex and profoundly unique and holds inexplicable outcomes for those who possess it in great amounts. That being said, those with great faith didn't get it by having a perfect and easy life. The only way to gain more is to use what you currently have.
So Lord, today I pray that there will be Christians every where that pray in faith to you Lord. That we will pray for our country. We will continue to pray for our leaders, from the Prime Minister to our Pastors, and specifically for the folks in Slave Lake. Lord I pray  that there would be an amazing out pouring of Christian generosity and charitable out pourings to the people in Slave Lake. That there would be such an undeniable act of brotherly love, that it too would make the news, not just the devastation. For I will chose to uphold my brother, so the whole world will see that we are not alone!
Amen.
Tammy

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One big week, one full closet.

Well, a lot can happen in one week. Yes, we all know that, but sometimes, doesn't it feel like maybe there is just too much in one week? Last week on May 1st we headed back over to Alberta to pick up our fifth wheel and get a few appointments tidied up there. On the drive over, I received a phone call that a very dear, long time friend of mine had been killed in a Helli skiing accident. This friend had been my employer and a close friend of mine for years before I had left Atlin. The Helli skiing industry was a serious love of mine. it was a time in my life that I thoroughly enjoyed. I grieved harder than I have grieved for a very long time. I wasn't ready to not see my friend again, I don't know if he was saved in those last few moments of his life. AND I had to let go of that last little bit of the old Tammy, I obviously had been clinging too. It hurt and I felt guilt at being so grieved at this loss? It took some words from a friend to point out to me that in the Bible there is a lot more about being chosen, than our having choices for how things turn out. I reflected on this long and hard. The rest of the week, was crammed with long hours of driving, studying for a neglected course, more news of distant relatives passing, my wonderful and amazing husbands birthday and preparation for Mother's Day .Oh yeah, and the Federal election, and news of Osama's death............One  big week.

As exciting as the journey for us is at times, there are moments when I wonder why me? Why us? The more I think about all of it the more it brings me back to how little I know, but long for a deeper understanding of God's ways. So, the following words ares a lot of things I don't know, and some I know for certain due to my experiences in the last year.  The whole issue of healing, is a why me.  Last May, when I was healed of my ridiculous allergies.............I went to a prayer meeting, not having any idea what to expect. I felt a lot of things, but nothing I could exactly describe in detail. I did know for certain that  the Holy Spirit was there. At the end of the night, the lady next to me, said "Wow, not sure what, but you where definitely healed of something".  I am sure I had a very transparent look on my face, that said,  Wow, I have no idea what you are talking about. On the drive home, I remember being upset with my Mom for not telling me that I smelled of onions.............I had been cooking all day prior. Two days later it occurred to me that I had not taken me allergy medicine cocktails. I used to  have to take two Benadryl at night, pop Reactine all day and used a variety of steroid nasal sprays and inhalers, etc. I was normally in complete misery for the entire allergy season..............spring and summer. I did not pray for myself to be healed of allergies, quite frankly it hadn't occurred to me to do so. No one else to my knowledge prayed for me, at least not admittedly or out loud, and I don't think anyone there would have even known allergies were a big problem for me. The pieces started coming together. I noticed I smelled like onions after the meeting, I didn't notice before, because I couldn't smell it. Then I started to take deep breaths! I realized that I was drug free! I felt like a million bucks! I didn't have my allergies! I wanted to throw a party!

 I didn't ask for a healing,  God chose to heal me. There was no one preaching over me, or proclaiming anything............just quiet prayers for others. HE just did it.  That's Mercy.

It was enough for me to get excited about things. It was enough to get Bill and I excited about working for God, and excited enough to let him use us, no matter how bizarre the plan seemed to look. It was enough for me to feel completely loved, at random, from my Heavenly Father. He just picked me to heal of  my dreadful allergies, so I would feel cared for at a time in my life when I really needed it. God knew what was in my heart.It was enough for us to feel moldable, and leadable. It was enough for us to (months later) decide to walk away from the big house at the lake we had been so desperately trying to hang on to and the life style we were hoping for. Enough for us to say, O.k. Lord, let's do this!
That night at the Monday night prayer meeting, I was harbouring hurt, rejection and bitterness in my heart from serious emotional wounds I received earlier that winter. I had been separated due to work from my husband for the five months prior and pretty sore about that experience too. ( Hurt and lonely!!) We had been in a tough spot financially and he had to go away to work. We were both  having a tough time seeing what God's purpose and plan for us was at this time in our lives.

 My heart wasn't "right",  (as I have heard the coin phrase used in regards to some receiving healings and others not recieving healings)it was broken and hurt, and I am a regrettably sinful human. If you need to have no sin in your life to be healed and pure heart, than I failed the enterance exam but still passed the test? Having experienced the healings I have I also understand  more fully now,  that Jesus dealt fully with my sin a long time ago,  once and for all on the cross, and I received that forgiveness in it's completeness the moment I accepted him into my heart.  I need to thank the many Pastors in our lives and of the three churches we attend regularly* in two provinces for  helping me receive the message of forgiveness in it's entirety. That is "The Good News"! I do know that God calls us to continually clean out our "closets" and make more and more room for him as we grow in Him. But, I also know, that my "closet" wasn't that clean that day. I have been showered with grace and mercy from our Lord. I also have no more unforgiveness in my heart about that issue any more and I understand the dangers of harbouring unforgiveness! More room for joy  and praise when you get rid of the other stuff! God showed me clearly what that can do to my heart and health. God knew of course, that it would be enough to prompt Bill and I, on to a new, deeper walk with Him.  AND I know that God uses flawed vessels, for we are such flawed vessels.

I know not much about the doctrines of healing, I just know that it happens. So why use me(us), as I know so little? I only know when the Holy Spirit leads me to pray. I have experienced healing and seen it in others.  I have had the privilege of being used to help a few others clean out their closets, and receive freedoms, and heeling's too. But, God's love  for us, is unconditional, as is His mercy. We can't earn it, He just gives it, freely. I have also seen God just  heal others with a full closet like mine . I know that God has healed me twice, both times, I had not asked, had a hurt heart, and He just chose me so that my testimony might glorify His name. I believe God heals, to glorify Himself. The testimony of our healing's, bring glory to Him. I will talk (testify ;) ) more about the healing of the blindness in my right eye, the following September, at a different time. For now, I just want to sign off being content to know that I have been chosen. I don't know a lot of things, and God does, and I am o.k. with that. I may not ever figure out why us, and if any of you do, don't tell us ;) we will know eventually! LOL.  This past week was a rough one, but I can honestly say at the end of it all, I am o.k. with it as well, because I  DO know without a doubt that God is in one hundred percent control.
Blessings to you, and comfort in the knowledge that you are chosen by our Lord.

Isn't that amazing???????????????????? He picked us!!! That's right, God, the one and only picked us! He knocks on the door........all we have to do is answer. Yes, Father.