Every Parent's Nightmare

 Thus saith the Lord: A voice was heard on high of lamentation, of mourning, and weeping, of Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted for them, because they are not. Jeremiah 31:15

The sound of Heaven touching Earth...there is the sound of heaven touching earth as we pray on Saturdays for those who have lost loved ones to death. There is the rustling of angle’s wings as comfort is poured out that can only come from the Lord. Angels surround the ones left behind. They pray, they remember, they long for that precious one.

Anita Smith once said that any parent who's lost a child will make sure their hearts are right before the Lord that they may see them again in heaven. The thing about Saturday’s prayer is there is always a family experiencing the death of a family member somewhere. Only a move of the Holy Spirit will help us today.

Grief has no timetable, each one processes differently, some stay numb with a holy numbness I believe, for a while, then it overwhelms them, just when other may say they should be "over it." Don't judge, just love and have an open ear and open arms. For those whose grave sites are fresh we pray for strength for this day and hope for the future as you remember all the good memories in your mind.
"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:4)

Spirit Break Out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_TOOXRpn8w
Our Father, all of Heaven roars Your name
Sing louder, let this place erupt with praise
Can you hear it, the sound of Heaven touching Earth
The sound of Heaven touching Earth

The sound of Heaven touching Earth explodes as we pray for those who grieve

The sound of Heaven touching Earth...there is the sound of heaven touching earth as we pray on Saturdays for those who have lost loved ones to death. Angels surround the ones left behind. They pray, they remember, they long for that precious one. Anita Smith once said that any parent who's lost a child will make sure their hearts are right before the Lord that they may see them again in heaven. The thing about Saturday’s prayer is there is always a family experiencing the death of a family member somewhere.

Grief has no timetable, each one processes differently, some stay numb with a holy numbness I believe, for a while, then it overwhelms them, just when other may say they should be "over it." Don't judge, just love and have an open ear and open arms. For those whose grave sites are fresh we pray for strength for this day and hope for the future as you remember all the good memories in your mind.

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:4)

Spirit Break Out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_TOOXRpn8w

 Our Father, all of Heaven roars Your name

Sing louder, let this place erupt with praise

Can you hear it, the sound of Heaven touching Earth

The sound of Heaven touching Earth

My Easter Devo for you, The Bleeding Parent

 We pray on Saturdays for those who have lost loved ones to death, it seems to hit close to home for many. The most unnatural thing in the world they say is burying your child , although Jesus was an adult at the time of His death, to Mary, He was her baby, yet also her Savior.

 Lord, send your strong Father arms of comfort to those who are grieving.

Though they are worn, give them new strength and vision for life. Give them the hope to press on and the ability to have joy again.

The Bleeding Parent

“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.” Luke 2:34-35

            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.  As a mother, 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 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.

Prayer: Lord, you know how much we would like to hide at times from the pain of life, especially when it involves our children. Help us instead to help steer them to the blessings that are in our daily lives and the Season before us.

Thought for the Day: Sometimes as parents we bleed for our children when we see them go through painful situations.

Prayer Focus: Families in pain during the holidays.

Donna Collins Tinsley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQan9L3yXjc

If all you can pray is Jesus, this one's for you!

Sometimes it just doesn't seem like prayers are being answered. Sometimes we are reduced to uttering, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!" Sometimes we are reduced to moaning, "Jesus, Jesus! Jesus!" Sometimes we can only cry out, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus," in the middle of the night, the night of deep sorrow of the soul. The night that breaks in to an unknown day.

Jesus, do what's best for our loved ones. All of them. Jesus send them home to You again, Jesus.

 Jesus seal up ungodly entrances that they've allowed into their lives, Jesus.

Hedge them in, Jesus. Show a way where there seems to be no way, Jesus. 

Sin is sweet for a season and then the sour sets in. The utter nausea of regret comes, the "How could I do this?

 "How could I sink so low?"

"How could I break my Savior's heart?"

"How could I turn away from my family?"

Show us how to live, today and live well. Show us how to love today and love well. 

Thank you, dear Lord for this promise: "But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:" Romans 5:20.Show us how to live, today and live well. Show us how to love today and love well. May Your grace forever win in our lives, today.

 Grace Wins

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=grace+wins+Matthew+west+lyrics

When I speak of sin for a season it is not from the point of view of someone who was never in that position. It's from the point of view of a woman who has many regrets and would like to spare others from that.

 

Studying about sin for a season here today: http://www.scionofzion.com/proverbs_9_13_18.htm

 

Those who live for the pleasures of this world may think they have all wisdom but the reality is that they are naïve and they lack understanding not realizing that they are literally playing with fire. They are willing to sacrifice their eternal future for a few years of wanton pleasure. To sacrifice the eternal for the temporary does not show true wisdom but shows the spirit of folly of one who has no understanding. Every person in this world attends the funeral of someone we know and it is at that time that it should get us to think of our own mortality. Unfortunately, the spiritually dead do not think upon eternal things, only the things of this transitory life.

Prov 9:17 (KJB)

Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

Those who live for the pleasures of this world will turn into the harlot because she claims that stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. There is pleasure in sin for a season. (Heb 11:25 KJV) Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Moses knew that it was better to suffer in this world and live eternally with the Lord than live in all the sensual pleasures of Egypt for a short season. The enticement of sin is that it always claims no consequences. The enticement is that there will be pleasure and enjoyment. This is the call of sin to every human being but it is the wise person who can hear beyond the call and see beyond the present picture. (Heb 4:13 KJV) Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

 God sees everything and nothing is hidden from His eyes. There is no such thing as secret sin. (Isa 29:15 KJV) Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

Walking in Christmas Shoes even Amidst Sandy Hook Tragedy

This week I posted this on Facebook and had to edit it, as since then a horrible tragedy has occurred with many schoolchildren murdered and a community shattered.


"Walk a mile in My Shoes” is the name of an old song by Joe South. Some of the lyrics say, “If you walk a mile in my shoes, you know how I feel, what makes me hurt, what gives me joy; and I, if I tried your shoes on would I say, “These aren’t so bad? These are nearly pain free, nearly a perfect fit?” But are they?

Have I walked a mile in a widow’s shoes, as she longs for the familiar comfort of the one who used to lie beside her at night? Or a mile in the shoes of someone who has had the health stripped from their body and would give anything to have a portion of the quality of life I enjoy? Have I walked a tenth of a mile in a homeless person’s worn shoes as he endures the scorching heat coming up from the pavement and bathes in the cold water of public restrooms for lack of better? Has my home been demolished by the flooding waters of a hurricane or tornado? Have I lived through losing family as those who are now burying children and loved ones like the families affected by the recent murders at Sandy Hook Elementary? No, I have not but I grieve along with those families and our nation.

"A voice is heard in Ramah, (and now America) weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." Matthew 2:18

  Christmas coming doesn’t alleviate the normal pains of life that we go through. I know several people that have lost loved ones and I weep for them this Christmas season and pray that they can find peace in the beauty of the season once again. The grief process takes time, and we know it won’t be this Christmas; this is just a fact we can’t get around. The pain will be numbing and constant for a long time. For them we pray.

We celebrate the birth of One qualified to know what it feels like to walk a mile in our shoes. Born lowly, he lived a life of submission to God’s will, and took what should’ve been our walk up a lonely hill to death on a cross. He has walked more than a mile and left a trail of tears; His tears intermingling with mine, we share sorrow, we share love, we share life.

 
Some Christmas’s are painful. When the tears I have cried are stored in His bottle, and I am drained, He becomes my Restorer, my Strength. When I complain, the way is dark, and not what I expected or hoped for; He shows me a new path out of the wilderness. A new path for the world-weary shoes that I wear-- that He wore first.

Donna Collins Tinsley



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoznjbKVnmw

'Tonight I will break a Parent's heart" 7 people die daily from pill overdose in FL

I was reading Hebrews 13 in The Message and some of the verses made me think about the meeting of The Substance Abuse Task Force. I am always struck by the pain of the parents that have lost children to the disease of addictions. One man introduced himself as the father of a dead child; in this case it was not an addiction problem but kids celebrating their graduation.  How heartbreaking, and yet how many of us can say, "There but by the grace of God go I ?"  Many of us realize and try to prepare ourselves for the possibility of loss in our families, with recreational pills so prevalent in the younger generation. If you are in the Daytona area, please check out the Substance Abuse Task Force monthly meeting. I am asking people of faith and more from the Faith community to show up and start praying that our city will be a light on the hill that shows a different way to live. If you are a church leader who wants to help please post or message me and I will let you know who to contact:)

 

Hebrews 13:13-16 So let's go outside, where Jesus is, where the action is—not trying to be privileged insiders, but taking our share in the abuse of Jesus. This "insider world" is not our home. We have our eyes peeled for the City about to come. Let's take our place outside with Jesus, no longer pouring out the sacrificial blood of animals but pouring out sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus' name.

 Make sure you don't take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship—a different kind of "sacrifice"—that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets. Hebrews 13


I met the (still grieving a year later) father of this boy after the meeting. I didn't want him to leave that meeting thinking that his son's death was in vain. I knew it was hard for him to make the effort to come to the meeting but I was so glad he came. The only comfort I could give was to say I would pray for him, give him a hug and the words that seemed to help, "I know when your son woke up the morning before he didn't think or plan, 'Tonight I will break my father's heart.'" Although that was what happened it was a horrible accident, of kids using one drug, one time too many. Young people are not thinking when they use recreational drugs; they are just doing it to fit in with their friends. In some small way, please get the word out, "One time may be one time too many."



 Sometimes seeing a real face to go along with the story helps; this was someone's son: http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/southeast-volusia/2011/06/02/new-smyrna-teen-taken-off-ventilator-dies-police-look-into-drug-connection.html