Laced With Grace

Today’s post is quite different than what you may normally find here at Laced With Grace. However, after months of waiting and many prayers, Iris, myself and my friend Heidi want to share a video with you. It is our prayer that this video will inspire all of us and also bring comfort and healing to those who have been sexually abused as a child.

If you would like to talk with Heidi, she has graciously offered to reach out to you. Please email her and she will be glad to pray for you and help you walk your path toward healing through the power of Christ.

Please pop back here after watching and leave an encouraging word for Heidi in the comments.

We serve a God of healing and He can and will use your struggle, hardship, even tradgity to bring you healing and bring Him great honor. Today could be the day you step out onto that path. Please let me know if I can pray for you as well.

Blessings, Lynn

A few days ago, I went to see my friend Rose in the hospital. After months of health problems, I heard she’d suffered a seizure and was heavily medicated. I had no idea that she’d be unrecognizable. I went into her room and promptly came out thinking they’d given me the wrong room card. The patient I saw looked like a child-size emaciated refugee from Auschwitz, nothing like the Rose I knew. Three times I came out and three times the nurses assured me that the patient was indeed Rose.

So I went in again and starting talking to Rose. She shifted toward me. I talked some more. Her hand opened and I clasped it in mine. And then she spoke. Not words, just some sounds. But I knew. The voice was unmistakable. Rose’s distinctive husky voice.

I stayed a while, praying and sharing Scripture with her. It soothed both of us.

At first glance (and second and third glance), all I saw was a twisted knobby skeletal frame. But when I heard her voice, I knew that sweet, gentle Rose was inside the thorny brambles.

It’s like that with life sometimes.

I see the briars, the thorns, the brambles. I see a dark complex maze of problems and issues. And then, in the midst of it all, I’ll hear God’s unmistakable voice. I’ll sense Him in the midst of it all. And it soothes me. Then I can see past the mess to the message inside.

I’m so grateful for His presence in ALL things. No matter how difficult things appear, He’s there.

I pray you aren’t going through a thorny time right now. But if you are, be assured. He knows, He cares, and He wants to speak to you in the midst of it all. These are the times that grow our faith, when we can’t see for ourselves and so must trust.  Listen for that gentle voice and let Him lead you through.

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Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  2 Cor. 4:16-18

Much love,

Susan

Ps – I saw my dear Rose today. She’s making some progress. She was able to briefly communicate coherently today and even joked. With a smile and chuckle, she said,“The Lord’s been good to me. I must have done something right.” As you read this or sometime during your day, would you pray for Rose? There are a myriad of issues, health-wise and otherwise, that need divine intervention. Thank you!

Every time I log on to the Internet I’m bombarded with news stories from all over the world. The headlines really grab my attention and pull me into the story and that’s exactly what they’re intended to do. Much of the time when I read the story however, it doesn’t live up to the headline from which I was pulled into it. As Shakespeare would say, it is “Much ado about nothing.”

It’s been the same with other headlines throughout the years: The crash of society promised by the Y2K scare, the prediction of the rapture of the church a few months ago (something that has been repeated many times before), and the end of the world foretold to be just around the corner…sometime this year – 2012.

It seems to be a part of our nature as human beings to want to know everything; even the future. The fact is, only God knows everything…including the future, and instead of following the headlines, He wants us to follow Him. His promises remain true no matter what the newspapers, Internet, or TV headlines say. He keeps us informed on a need-to-know basis, and He has given us his word to direct us. If indeed He sends a headline we are to follow, I am certain it will be found within the pages of the Bible and will lead in a direction opposite from where the world is heading.

In any case, we don’t need to be troubled about these things. Our Heavenly Father takes care of His children and provides for our every need. Let not our hearts be troubled, neither let us be afraid (John 14:27). If we keep our eyes on Him this brand new year, we won’t get caught up in the headlines.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My word will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” Matthew 24:35-36

Charlotte