Unanswered Prayers

Have you ever prayed for something and the outcome was not what you wanted? I'm sure we have all had that experience at times. We had some prayers going on Somebody's Mother Online Prayer Support Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/119408188089314/

this week and painfully the ones we were praying for, did not get the answer they wanted. There are so many things that cannot be explained. I pray that the prayers started will continue until the Lord draws everyone so close to Him, that nothing on this earth matters.

At times like these, we wonder where God is, sometimes. The first person I thought of was Carol Kent and how she and her husband, Gene, press on although they did not get their happy ending. I next thought of the parents of the children from Sandy Hook Elementary School and what they are having to live with each day, such loss.
Something I read this morning was good; from a dear woman I know through Winning Women and it was written in a book called, "Dear Daughters:"

"Help me, oh God, help me. Be with me, Jesus. I need you so. Show me Thy way. Tell me what to do, and I will do it. Send your love, your grace, your wisdom to me, for without it I am lost. Give me your strength Father. Illuminate my path. Keep my feet from stumbling. Let me not hinder, but only help every one of your children to see You, to follow You and let me not hinder myself. My dearest Love, who knows me better than I am known, hold me close to Your Heart, your Mind, your Will. Let me feel your hand in mine as I yearn with every sinew of my spirit to walk this life as you want me to. I am nothing dust in human form, so please help me. (Diane West Van Wert)

We live to walk another day, looking for a blessing when sometimes there seems to be none. We are survivors, from stock of survivors, we are grateful for many blessings and for that reason, we will live to praise this day.

As said in Hebrews 11 many died in the promise, many did not get the good answer while here on earth, many will be named as those of whom the world was not worthy. And as Job said, "Though he slay me, yet I will trust in Him." Some will turn away in pain and some will let that pain draw them closer to the only true Comforter in this world, Jesus. I pray that for each one who is hurting today, that you will let Him hold you, draw you and surround you.  

Unanswered prayers; yes, we all have a few. But instead of feeling that they were unanswered perhaps they are prayers in "God's Waiting Room" or even the Lord's throne room, saved for a better outcome that we cannot even imagine.

Christmas Comes, Even Though we Grieve

Because of the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook, I am reposting an old Christmas message as well as my new one. Please dwell on the last paragraph of each one and know that you are loved:

The Bleeding Parent

Mary was a young girl at the time she conceived. She learned early what it meant to be a bleeding parent. One of the first prophecies spoken to her was Luke 2:34-35, “Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, His mother, for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also) that the hearts of many may be revealed.”

Her natural impulse would have been to shelter, nurture and protect her son. We cannot forget that although Jesus was God in human form, He was bone of her bone and flesh of her flesh. Her womb was the first home for the king of kings. Her body pushed him out. With each contraction, His destiny and our salvation drew nearer. She bore pain for Him, that He would bear our pain and sins.

She watched and pondered, not even knowing fully it was He of whom was spoken, “He is a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised and we did not esteem Him.”(Isaiah 53:3)

He went from son to Savior as she watched Him dying for her at the cross. We forget sometimes at Christmas, that He was born for the cross. She went from being His mother to being His child as He became a bleeding parent for her.

If your year has not been all you had hoped for, take a moment to remember all the good things in life you have been blessed with. We take for granted things such as eyesight, health, a warm home, food enough to eat and to share. Let praise become a part of your heart.
Donna Collins Tinsley

Black Friday, Reality Shows, Pot Menders and Christmas

Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed;

save me and I will be saved,

for you are the one I praise. Jeremiah 17:14 (NIV)

Black Friday started on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day this year. Bill has started going out with some of our girls and they seem to have a lot of fun. I actually decided to go and take Isaiah for a bit as he felt that he was really missing out on something. It looked like what he was missing out on was wall-to-wall people, stuffed tighter than a Thanksgiving turkey into Wal-Mart. After driving around for 20 minutes looking for a parking place, going in and finding Bill and PJ (our grown-up “adopted son”) I came, I saw, took a few pictures to post and I left. I couldn’t think of anything that would make me want to stand in a line that long. It just isn’t what Christmas is about, is it?

You may be saying right now, “Hey girl, this is Christmas, right? Give me some Christmas joy and cheer; give me a big smile, and let me just go with the material things, the fleeting joy and excesses that Christmas has become in this century, give me the unreality that the “reality” shows portray.”

I want to introduce you to a new word this Christmas and I hope a new way to live. Kintsugi means golden joinery and to me it is a beautiful phrase. We think of the colors of Christmas, the reds, greens, silver and golds and the word Kintsugi (金継ぎ)is the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with a lacquer resin sprinkled with powdered gold.”

I believe that our Savior came to that stable as a baby, grew to be a man, died and gave himself for us, to mend broken pots and broken hearts with gold that is so beautiful that all that look upon them will be amazed.

I may not be able to give each one who reads this a gift, but I can commit to pray for you this year. I pray that pure gold will shine from the cracks that need mending in your life. I pray that any broken heart will be fixed by the Lord in the way that brings glory to Him and healing to you. I pray that you find love enough each day and that you will shine in a unique way, the way that you were intended to live and shine from the foundation of the earth.

I have to borrow a quote that sums up what I feel better than I can: A devo written by Scoti Springfield Domeij says, “Enhanced by the Master’s artisan’s touch a broken pot that normally would have been tossed actually becomes lovelier, more precious, and more valuable that before.” Think on these words this Christmas season. You are lovelier, more precious and more valuable today than you have ever been before. Believe it when you don’t see it, receive it when you feel broken inside, say it when you feel totally parched inside. Shine on and Merry Christmas to all!

Donna Collins Tinsley 2012