Sometimes God lays a passage on your heart.  The other night, I was trying to lay out a design and found myself totally engrossed in the project before me.  God put the story of Jesus healing the ten lepars on my heart.  I asked Mike to grab my Bible.  I began pouring through the book of Luke looking for this passage.

11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:
13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. 

I sat quietly on the floor thinking about this passage.  Only one of ten gave Jesus thanks for healing.  It lead me to a couple of thoughts.  Have you ever heard the saying “No one sits at the table more grateful than the one who best remembers hunger?”  Someone who has recently come to know Christ is often much more grateful for God’s blessings than someone who has been a Christian pretty much all their life.  I am not sure exactly what got me thinking about that.

Leprosy was a horrible disease, it meant you were unclean and were not allowed to live with the “clean” population.  After being healed, wouldn’t you run back and thank Jesus for healing you from that awful disease?  I asked myself the same question, and usually when God blesses me with something huge, I do thank Him.  I guess I need to be thankful more often for the little things, and think that is what God was trying to get me to see.  His blessings are so many, and so often all I can see is the frustrations in my life.  The past couple of months, I have gotten so much closer in my walk with God, and I mean so much closer - it is amazing.  I do need to make sure that as I get caught up in the every day to make sure I thank God for all of the incredible things He has given/done.  Otherwise I will end up as one of the nine that walked away healed and didn’t bother to thank the one who had rescued them.

How old was I when the Geoff Moore/Larry Norman version came out?  Well, I was little.  5 maybe?  I have two CD’s with different version of this song on it.  It is still one of my favorite songs of all time.  A few months ago, I heard on the radio that Larry Norman had died.  Wonder if they played funeral marches or hymns.  Well, here it is, “Why Should the Devil have ALL the Good Music?” by Larry Norman:

I want the People to know
That He saved my soul,
But I still like to listen to the radio,
They say Rock ‘n Roll is wrong,
They’ll give me one more chance.
I feel so good I want to get up & dance.
I know what’s right,
I know what’s wrong,
I don’t confuse it.
All I’m really trying to say Is,
Why should the devil have all the good music?

I’ve been filled,
I feel okay,
Jesus is the rock,
He rolled my blues,
He will roll your blues,
He will roll your blues away.

After a couple of months of insanity, I am finally starting to have a bit of free time again. Last night, I went to dinner with a great friend. It was so nice to get out and talk to one of my friends. She and I had a wonderful time and I walked away feeling refreshed and so blessed.

Next weekend I have a Saturday full of things not related to the madness of the last couple of months. After my doctor’s appointment on Saturday, my mom and I are having a “makeup” birthday and mother’s day since both of them were going to be missed due to craziness. Then Mike and I are going out to dinner with another couple that are friends. It will be good. I feel like for the last several months, I haven’t seen or talked to anyone. I have been so busy with everything on my plate lately.

Hopefully, things will slow down and Mike and I can plan some trips to visit people and to go to some neat places here soon.

God has greatly blessed me.  I have a good job, I have a roof over my head, I have the most awesome husband, I have great friends, I have enough food to eat, I have a great car, I have enough money saved to take care of an emergency, and I have the greatest family anyone could ever want.  God’s blessings are so many, it is too many to count.  He has always provided and then some.  I am so blessed.

Was it last Sunday?  I can’t remember.  So much going on, I am losing track of time.

Anyway, recently we had communion at our church.  The sermon was amazing.  I spent most of the time praying and crying.  God pointed out something in my life that I wasn’t surrendering.  While everyone was taking communion, the Spirit was breaking me.

The other evening, before Mike got home from work, I had put dinner on and suddenly felt the need to read the story of Abraham.  I started reading where God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac.  Ultimately, God spares Isaac and provides a ram for the sacrifice.  I sat and thought.  What would I have done?  I realized what I needed to take from this story.  God was testing Abraham.  He was testing to see if Abraham trusted in Him COMPLETELY and if Abraham had surrendered EVERYTHING to God.

It is so easy to say to God, here are these parts, you can have these and the rest is mine.  Most of us face this at some point in our lives.  God doesn’t want part, he wants all of us.  Time and time again, I have seen in my own life, when I finally let something go, God works wonders.

God showed me what I needed to surrender, and it is hard, I want to hold onto it as tight as I can, but God requires all of me.  I have to have faith, the faith to know that God is going to take this thing in my life and mold it into something beautiful, which it isn’t while I am holding onto to it.

The other night while cooking dinner, I put in Dove Awards CD which had Clay Crosse’s “I Surrender All” on it and that wasn’t the reason why I had put the disc in the CD player (if I had wanted that song, I would have put in Clay Crosse’s “My Place is with You” album).  A few lines stuck out:

“Everything I am, all I’ve done, and all I’ve known
Now belongs to You, the life I live is not my own”

This life I live is no longer my own, I gave that to God when I accepted Christ.  And since I gave my life over to God, why am I still grasping at parts of it and claiming it for myself?  It is time for me to let go.

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. - Joshua 1:9

About two years ago I was diagnosed with a health condition that was somewhat serious. The past two years have been long and hard, when it comes to dealing with this particular issue. A few weeks ago, I went back to the doctor to discuss how things were going. He looked at my chart and decided it was time to switch some of my medications. He also wants to have more tests done. I went back and saw an RN the following weekend. She took one test and something came back wrong.

The results weren’t good. We talked to her about how to deal with both of these conditions, which seem to go hand in hand for most people like me. She has given me orders of everything from when and what to eat to how to sleep. I am to follow her instruction for a month and then report back for more testing. This has completely turned my world upside down.

My whole life for the past few weeks has revolved around my new life style. It’s been hard, and I have had to miss several hours from work because this new system is wrecking my body. I am closing in on the two week mark for my new diet. It’s different, but the good news is, I feel less toxic. My body feels ridiculously tired, but I feel better overall. I am not sure if it is the medication adjustments or the new diet, but overall I am feeling better. So, praise God for that. It is still hard since everywhere I look there are things I can’t eat, but so far, I have only had one small thing that I wasn’t supposed to have.

My will is strong and I am going to keep this stuff in check. Even if I can keep both things in check, the statistics aren’t great. People that suffer from these things live shorter lives than the average person. Both of these things run in my dad’s family, so it helps to know his family history and know where it came from. Thanks Dad! The doctors and I are working on this, and I have faith that I will be able to follow my daily regiment. Sometimes life throws a curve, and you have got to do the best you can.

Relying on God to see you through is step one. Being diligent and responsible has got to be step two. Being strong and courageous is step three. Never losing a sense of humor is number four (unfortunately for my husband, I inherited my dad’s sense of humor).

Over the years God has taught me that everything can’t be perfect. He also has shown me two things. If my life was perfect, why would I need God? And second, what reason would I have to use my faith?

The most amazing thing about being a Christian is knowing that there is someone, so much more powerful than the human mind could begin to comprehend, watching out for us. Thank God for that.

Can’t imagine what the future holds
But I’ve already made my choice
And this is where I stand
Until He moves me on
And I will listen to His voice - Twila Paris “Where I Stand”